Not as it seems
by ComputerDevil
Summary: Trying to deny your feelings for Kai Hiwatari ain't easy, especially if he's courting you. The dramas of Kai and Corinne: dealing with Biovolt, infidelities, and much, much more... KaixOC
1. Prologue

**Cookie: **I'll try to make this short and sweet, read if you like, ignore if you don't. Review and I'll give u a cookie (not literally as I doubt I have enough money to post you a cookie wherever you are in the world).

**Kai's POV:**

The only memory I can recall of my mother was my last one, I was only three then but as the cliché goes "it was almost like it happened yesterday". Tears streamed down her beautiful face, she wasn't conventionally beautiful but to a child of my age then she was my whole world. I can pick up the image in my mind as easily as if it were a physical picture. She had luscious locks of mahogany hair, glistening brown eyes (but I suppose that was from the crying) and a constellation of about five freckles on the right side of her face. I was in a black Mercedes as we pulled out of our driveway, she didn't try to stop the car, didn't yell or scream, just tears, like a never ending broken dam.

To this day, I have never seen a person with such anguish across their faces, and I cannot stand to see people cry. Actually, any extreme emotion disturbs me for I cannot cope with it, to be more exact, I do not know how to cope with it.

My grandfather, Voltaire, was the one to take me away. "It's best for you" they said to me, although I did not understand how leaving my mother could be in anyway beneficial. Grandfather lived in a big house, a mansion really but I prefer not to use that term. He was a great grandfather, better than I could ever have wished for. Over time I forgot about my mother and everything to do with her.

You see, grandfather was rich because of oil. It was found accidentally on his farm which stretched for acres and acres, as did the oil. He invested in many different profitable businesses, Biovolt being his most treasured one. Biovolt was a science and medicine laboratory which made human "improvements".

I was ten when grandfather started forgetting things, first it was just small things like his car keys and to turn the tap off and it was easily ignored by the maids but I knew something was wrong, he wasn't a forgetful person. By the time I was twelve, it got to the point where he forgot even my name. Boris Ivanov, the head scientist of Biovolt decided to take matters into his own hands. With his newest development, he decided to test run it on grandfather to reverse the Alzheimer's but ever since that operation I haven't seen my grandfather. His place was filled by a heartless bastard.

The day before the operation, grandfather seemed to be fine, he seemed to remember everything but that was probably because all he did was lie in my bed and read. I just sat by him, once he looked up from his book and said to me "This is a very important book boy. You must read it."

I nodded but never planned to actually read Dickens A/N: I'm not writing off Dickens, I think he's a brilliant author, but this was to a 12 year old boy. and discarded my grandfather's words.

It's was three years since my real grandfather had gone, in that time I just grew to be an empty shell. I went to school, I trained with Boris's experiments out of force and did all the other mundane things humans must perform in order to survive. The only thing that kept me sane was my music, just popping on my headphones and turning the volume up to block the whole world was all it took for me to slip into bliss, lying on my bed, falling mesmerized by the plaster swirls adorning the ceiling. It was March and we'd just started to do "The old curiosity shop" in English class at school and I'd left my book in my locker so I decided to borrow Voltaire's copy, not that he'd even notice considering all the time he had was spent with Boris and the new experiments. That was how I found grandfather's will.

I found out that grandfather had set up a trust fund for me and that I was to receive it on my 16th birthday, all fifty million. It was more money than I knew what to do with but I was certain of one thing; I was getting out of this hellhole that was once my home.

The day after I turned 16 I escaped, apparently no one knew about the trust fund, at least that's what I hope is the case and I took the next plane to the least likely place anyone would go to find me; New Zealand.

A year has passed since I've been here and I assume that Voltaire thinks I'm dead… But assumptions always got people in trouble.


	2. Race, anyone?

**Cookie: **I'd just like to say thanks to:

Kai-Hiwatari-lover

geniecat2

ms. controversy

for their reviews ) it's very much appreciated. Also, I noticed that when I put the first chapter online a lot of the punctuation and some of the words were cut off, so if some parts are hard to decipher I apologize.

Disclaimer: (forgot to put this in the last chapter . ) I don't own Beyblades etc. but I do own my OCs.

**Normal POV:**

It was another four-season day in Dunedin, at the moment God had chosen to bathe the small city in sunshine, in a few minutes it would probably rain.

The only Starbucks in town was full of people, old, young and weird. By the false fireplace (turned off) sat two Asian girls, happily sipping away at their mochas and gossiping about nothing. The dark blue and slate haired Kai walked in, immediately recognizing the smaller of the two as Keiko, a Japanese girl in his year. The other face however wasn't familiar.

"Kai-san! Come join us," called Keiko, her curly pigtails bounced as she talked.

Kai turned his head and looked at her, he barely knew this girl, they were hardly what you would call friends. He was about to grab his coffee and ignore the remark when the other girl caught his eye, she had shoulder-length chocolate hair with thin honey-blonde streaks and the same brown eyes as his mother. The girl stared at him as if challenging him to come over, a small grin broke on her porcelain face.

"I'll order first," replied Kai heading for the counter, deciding that it may be worth his time to meet Keiko's companion.

"Wow, who's Mr.-holier-than-thou?" asked the girl.

"Corinne, keep it down! He could hear you!" hushed Keiko, giving her friend a warning glare.

"So? It's not like he can do anything about it," she snuggled into the armchair as Kai pulled up a chair, balancing his café latte in one hand.

Corinne glanced over the 1.8m, 17 year-old boy, noting his good build and sharp facial features, definitely not a local.

"Corinne," she said as she extended a hand in politeness.

Kai ignored it, "Hn."

She gave a skeptic look, "You know it's polite to shake someone's hand in greeting if they offer it, common courtesy to also introduce yourself."

Keiko jumped in to melt the icy tension and retreated her hand, "Uh, this is Kai Hiwatari. He is a foreign student from Russia and came last year." She turned to Kai, "She is a family friend and attends the Catholic girls' school up the hill from ours."

There was a few minutes of awkward silence… _So this is the amazingly hot Kai Hiwatari that Keiko wont shut up about, _thought Corinne, _he's really not what I expected though, better be polite for Keiko's sake anyway._

"So, Kai…" she trailed.

A pair of silver eyes fixed themselves on her, waiting for something more worthy to reply to.

"Do you race?" Corinne's face broke into a wide grin as she brought up one of her favorite subjects, "boy-racing I mean."

"No," answered Kai, even though he drove an evolution 8 (Mitsubishi) and well, he didn't think this place would have any tracks to drift, or even drag race for that matter.

"Oh, what do you drive?"

"Evolution eight."

"And you choose not to race why?"

"No tracks."

"You have been so deprived! If you're free tonight, I'll show you three-mile hill." She handed him a slip of paper with her number on it, caught in excitement she almost forgot that Keiko was there. Corinne smiled sheepishly at the brunette in apology but Keiko just laughed, happy the two were getting along.

"Didn't you have to pick up your skyline from the garage?" Keiko reminded her.

"Oh crap, yes. I'll catch up with you later ok? Oh, and Kai, give me a call if you want to take your evo for a run." Smiled the Chinese girl as she grabbed her bag and dashed out.

 Time passing

"And where do you think you're going young lady?" Corinne's dad grabbed her by the shoulders just as she was about to slip out the door. "It's eleven already, don't you think you're a bit young to be… going to do what you're going to do?"

"Dad, please? I'll be back in an hour, I promise!" She said, lower lip protruding in an attempt to pull off a 'puppy-dog' face.

Her father sighed, "just don't wake your mother up when you get back, she's got an early morning tomorrow."

"Okay!" she grinned and practically leapt out the door, her father was also a car maniac and could understand her urge to escape reality behind a 24-valve V-Tec. (that's an engine btw)

Just about to back out of the driveway, some asshole in a black car parked in her way. She stepped out of the car, "Oi! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

The window rolled down, and there sat Kai and what Corinne guessed was his catch for the night; a gorgeous blonde who looked like she was pretty scantily clad.

"Are you deaf! Get out of my way Hiwatari!" Yelled the Asian, wondering how the heck he knew where she lived. He backed the Mitsubishi a few meters before getting out of the big mass of metal.

"You said you wanted to run," Kai said, leaning on the side of his car. (NB: run in this case means race. )

"Yeah, follow and I'll lead," she said, "although your girlfriend will have to sideline it while we race."

"Fine," agreed Kai, not bothering to correct her on the girlfriend bit.

They stopped outside the small shop just before three-mile-hill started, Corinne stepped out of her supra and tapped on the tinted window which rolled down following the command.

"It's just ahead, I was only going to have a few practice runs tonight by myself. The real races begin at around 2. Just tell the boys you're a mate of Coco and they'll be fine with letting you join. You head down first and get used to the route, I'll be right behind you."

With that Kai turned out and sped on ahead, taking three minutes to get to the bottom of the hill he waited for Corinne, five minutes… then ten. _She shouldn't take **this **long, even if she may be a bad driver… something's wrong…_

**Cookie: **Ehh.. I didn't expect this chapter to be so long and kinda boring. It's because I'm at work and keep getting interrupted, but hopefully read and enjoy AND REVIEW (critique is welcome, flamers without construction are not).


	3. well I don't like you either

**Cookie: **Blagh… This is probably gonna be my last update for a while now because of exams and also I'm seeing how many reviews I can accumulate :D, it's rather depressing to get so many hits and so little reviews. Thanks go to: ms. Controversy and DarkVixenOfLight for reviewing  snaps for both of you.

N/B: if something is in _italics _that means it's a character thinking.

_Meanwhile midway up Three-Mile-Hill_

It was stuffy in Corinne's skyline so she wound down the window, a small bug flew into the car and danced around her head, seemingly teasing her. She waved her hand at it, trying to bat it out of the way but it only dodged and flew closer to her face.

"ARGH!" cried Corinne as she shook her head madly trying to get the bug away, not the best decision to make when you're driving at 120 down a winding hill track. She lost control of the car and whammed into the side of the clay hill, POOF the airbag inflated contacting her forehead as she was forced forwards in the car-seat.

Luckily, she was alright, her car wouldn't start up again and the airbag seemed impossible to get rid of so she just sat in frustration waiting for Kai to hopefully figure out something was wrong and come help her.

**At the bottom of the track:**

"Kai, we should go see what's happened to her," suggested his hook-up (god that's a terrible thing to call someone, let's call her his date instead).

"Hn," he answered before making a tight u-turn and heading back up the hill.

He recognized the crumpled car instantly and stopped so suddenly the blonde in the passenger seat almost got flung out into the window. Kai stepped out of the car at the same instant that Corinne did.

"What took you so long? I thought you might've not come check up on me," said Corinne.

"_You _wanted to run with _me_," noted Kai sarcastically, "good luck getting home."

With that he jumped back into his mitsi (Mitsubishi) and drove off.

"YOU FUCKING HEARTLESS BASTARD!" Screamed Corinne, she leant on the car frame and sighed, _fucking asshole, even if he barely knows me he could have at least had the decency to give me a ride home. Shit… dad's going to kill me if I wake him up at this hour and totaled my car, mum is definitely out of the question. I have no cash on me for a taxi and even if I did there's no signal on this friggin' track. ARGH! Shit, shit, shit… maybe because of some freak chance there is a signal tonight?_

She scrambled around the glove compartment for her cell-phone and was about to dial when blaring car lights shone into her eyes, "What the hell…!"

The black evolution pulled up beside her, Kai rolled down his windows and she could see that his date had gone, this somewhat worried her.

"Get in," ordered Kai, looking straight ahead at the road.

"Wait… what do you plan to do?" said Corinne, her eyes narrowed with suspicion.

Kai sighed, this girl is just so full of it, "if you want to go home then get in the car."

She didn't budge.

"You're not my type," said the blunette, annoyed.

She hopped into the car without another word and buckled up, slightly offended that he thought she "wasn't his type".

They were a couple of minutes off the track before Kai asked, "where's the nearest petrol station?"

"Uh… about ten minutes away?" replied Corinne uncertainly.

"Shit…" muttered Kai under his breath, he was going to run out of petrol, as if on cue the car slowed to a halt.

The Asian girl blinked a few times then burst out laughing.

"Who's the idiot now?" she commented trying to stifle her giggles when she received an icy glare for them.

"Do you have a phone?" Kai looked at her, waiting for her to answer.

"Yep," smiled the brunette and she fished around her pockets for her cell-phone… which wasn't there… _shit… I must have dropped it when the idiot blared his lights in my face, _"uh… make that no, don't you have one?"

Kai ignored the question, no he didn't have a cell-phone because he never thought he would need one.

"We could always walk back to my car and pick it up?" suggested Corinne.

Kai stepped out of the car and headed back down the hill, the girl decided it would be smartest to follow him and did so. Once they reached the crash site she knelt down to look for her small black phone.

"don't bother," muttered Kai as he handed her the bits of plastic and metal that once used to be her phone.

Brown eyes looked at him for a second before their owner sighed and sat down beside her wrecked car with a thump, surprisingly Kai joined her.

"We'll only be here til the others come," said Corinne trying to lighten the mood.

"Hn," was the curt reply she got.

"You can drop the "I'm so cool act" you know, I'm not gonna think any less of you. Not that I could anyway."

The two- toned haired boy just glared at her before turning back to stare at the pitch-black forest area. Moments passed in silence.

"I'm bored," complained Corinne, "come on, talk to me!"

"Go to sleep," said Kai.

"Here?"

"No, in your bed."

"Okay, okay, geez, you don't have to be so cold all the time."

"I'm not."

"And you could talk a bit more."

"Why?"

"So I don't get bored!"

"Uh huh…"

A few minutes later.

"Hey Kai…"

"What?"

"Why'd you say I wasn't your type?"

"Because it's the truth."

"You don't even know me! You can't say that. What is your type then?"

"Not you."

"Anyone listening to this conversation would think you're intellectually challenged."

"Well no one is."

-sigh- "Star sign?"

"What?"

"What's your star sign?"

"Capricorn"

"Ah… that's why we aren't compatible."

"That stuff is bullshit."

"You got a better explanation as to why you're being an asshole?"

"You can't really talk."

"Oh is that right? I've been nothing but polite to you and what do I get in return? A cold slap in return."

This time it was Kai's turn to sigh, "It's not my fault, don't judge me. Because you barely know me."

"I'm not judging you, I think you're the one who's been doing that pretty well all by yourself."

"I didn't judge you."

"Oh yeah, that's exactly why you can say I'm not your type."

"Is that what this is about?"

"No," she glared, "what makes you think I want you to like me?"

"You seem pretty worked up about it."

"I have a short temper."

"Obviously"

"Eugh," Hissed the girl angrily and whacked Kai on the arm.

"Ow," said Kai sarcastically.

There was a slight wind that was picking up, Corinne shivered a bit, _damn… I should have brought a coat. I didn't think this would happen. One doesn't usually plan for these kinds of things._

Her thoughts were broken by a large jacket being flung onto her small body, it was warm and smelled of Burberry Brit cologne, such a nice scent… (lol… thanks to Jason for this one).

_He's not that bad a guy after all, maybe the next two hours wont go as slow as I thought…_ Corinne smiled to herself as she inhaled more of the soft cologne.

**Cookie: **Review! Thanks 


	4. Screw teenage hormones

**Cookie: **Blagh… I've given up asking for reviews because I got none for the last chappie. I will however continue to write the fic for my own pleasure except updates will depend on mood very much.

Disclaimer: Beyblades and I are not associated apart from the obvious fact I write fics to do with its characters etc. etc.

_He's not that bad a guy after all, maybe the next two hours won't go as slowly as I thought…_ Corinne smiled to herself as she inhaled more of the soft cologne.

"Thanks," the Asian smiled at Kai, who was now only wearing his customary black singlet vest, "aren't you cold though?"

Kai glanced at her, smirked and then got into the un-touched back seat of the half-wrecked car as if deliberately pointing out what an idiot she was.

"Thanks," repeated Corinne, only this time in a sarcastic tone. And only moments ago she had thought that the boy was beginning to get alright.

Still slightly cold she had no choice but to Join the Russian in the car, sending him a very close imitation of one of his own death glares as she sat down.

"Don't you dare think of doing anything," warned the brunette as she rested her head against the window and slowly closed her eyes, dozing off to visit the sand man.

**Two hours later…**

In the middle of a very sweet dream, Corinne was rudely awakened by the opening of a car door – the one she was leaning on. Her small frame crumpled onto the ground.

"Oww!" she howled, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she continued to curse whoever had awoken her, "are you so blind as to not see that I was…"

"Whao, take it easy Coco. Just checking to see if you were alive!" laughed a red-head.

"Dammit Michael, you could have tapped on the glass or something!" complained Corinne, now standing up she nursed the arm she had fallen on.

"Where would the fun be in that?" smiled Michael, "wow Coco… you really messed up old sky here (the car)."

"Ugh, I know, don't mention it to my dad alright? He would stop me racing for ever," groaned the girl, she turned to look for Kai.

"Don't worry about it, I'll get Ricky to take it to the garage. Tsk, tsk, and we only just put a new engine in there too. Whatever are you going to do to repay me?" flirted Michael, he put an arm around her shoulders.

"Why… I'm sure we'll think of something," grinned Corinne, she then gave him a punch to the side which got rid of his arm, "probably just more hours at the garage though, pervert."

Kai appeared suddenly beside Michael, they were identical in height, build and probably shoe size. He gave her a pointed look that asked to leave, obviously feeling uncomfortable in the midst of strangers.

Corinne took the hint, "Hey Mike, can we hitch a ride with you back to my place? As you can see my car is a bit… out of shape."

"Understatement, but yeah course you can, hop in," with that he opened the door to his sleek red Supra (Toyota).

It took only 20 minutes for Michael to reach Corinne's house, although there were a few close calls on his cop-radar, not many police officers understand the thrill of going 180km/h on normal roads.

The reached the two-storey plaster house with a very large window on one side and a well-planned garden, complete with water features and exotic plant-life.

"Here you go coco, will this be your stop as well or…?" the auburn haired boy turned to ask Kai.

"Here is fine," replied the Russian, stepping out of the car as quickly as he could without seeming impolite.

"Thanks Mikie, I'll see you at the garage on Sunday," said Corinne with an appreciative smile as she opened the car door.

"For you, anytime," grinned Michael before Corinne closed the door and he drove away.

"So…" Corinne looked at Kai, "want to stay in the guest bedroom?"

"Hn," replied Kai as some sort of agreement.

The Asian girl just rolled her eyes at his irresponsiveness (O.o it's actually a word!) before heading towards the thick redwood doors that were ornamented with titanium features, she made sure to make as little noise as possible and warned Kai to do the same.

Holding her breath all the way until both she and the blunette had reached the second floor where her bedroom and the guest room were situated.

"Okay, the parentals wont be able to hear us as loudly now," explained Cori as she went over to a door on her left an motioned for Kai to enter, "this is the guest bedroom, bathroom is the second door but you can easily find that, it's either the bathroom or the closet. Umm… I guess, make yourself at home?"

As soon as Kai entered the room, thanked her and closed the door she darted off back to her own room. _Okay… slightly awkward. I have a Russian boy in my guest bedroom, how the hell will I explain this to dad! Oh crap, I'm still wearing his jacket, god it smells nice… What am I thinking! Okay I'll bring him a toothbrush and other stuff and give him the jacket back. And avoid awkwardness. _

She grabbed some new washing up things from her bathroom and got so used to not knocking in her own house she forgot to do so… the punishment was to see a very nicely built, tall, good-looking Russian boy half naked, mid way taking his pants off.

"Oh my god Kai, I'm sorry! Put a top on," cried Corinne, she turned her head to stare at the wall while her cheeks blushed magenta and thrust the items at Kai.

"It's called knocking," replied the blunette calmly, he had his pants back on but was still topless as he caught his jacket and items.

"Okay, yep. Goodnight," squeaked Corinne, still not looking at him.

"You're pretty bashful aren't you?" grinned Kai, just before she left he added, "thanks."

She lay on her bed wondering what the heck just happened in the past few hours, wide awake after the nap in the car she sat up in her bed and began sketching. First the well carved facial structure, then these large mesmerizing silver eyes, messy gelled up hair, thin lips and before she realized what she was doing a pretty good replica of Kai ended up on the page. _Shit… I've been spending way too much time with that asshole. Screw him and his fucking toned body, it's only normal for a girl my age to be attracted to someone physically. Doesn't mean I actually like him, I could never like someone so anti-social and rude! _

After convincing herself well enough that Kai was not a focal point in her mind she fell asleep, only to dream of the retard…

**TBC**


	5. black parcels

**Cookie: **Boo… Here is the next update. Enjoy all my non-existent readers D

**Eight o'clock the next morning:**

Corinne rubbed her eyes as her silk-pajama dressed body trailed towards the guest bedroom, she paused for a moment to regain her sight and then knocked three times remembering what had happened last night – she had learnt her lesson. Almost immediately the door opened to unveil a freshly showered Kai Hiwatari, his hair was wet and a fringe flopped down past his eyes, again he was dressed in almost nothing; a towel hung around his hips. The girl's eyes widened.

"Stop gawking, do you have any clothes that I can wear?" said the wide-awake boy.

"I'm not gawking!" defended Corinne, "and yeah… check in the closet for some of my dad's clothes. Come downstairs to the kitchen when you're done."

The tall Russian boy entered as Corinne slid some sunny-side up eggs on to buttered toast and then proceeded to grill tomatoes with olive oil. She turned around to see Kai looking surprisingly good in a black polo and suit pants, although his bare feet were a bit out of place.

"Socks are in there too," grinned the Asian.

Without replying Kai slipped a pair of black socks out of his pocket and slid them on, making Corinne feel incredibly idiotic once again.

"Fine… breakfast will be ready soon, get the cutlery will you?" requested the current make-shift chef, _God this guy is so full of himself! I'll be glad once he's out of my house._

Corinne served the cooked breakfast and the two ate in almost complete silence, only interrupted when a large border collie ran into the kitchen and greeted its owner by licking her hand.

"Hey gorgeous, how are you this morning huh? I bet you're hungry aren't you? Okay, mummy's done here anyway, let's get you some breakfast," cooed Cori, unaware of the mildly amused look she was receiving from Kai due to the tone she was using with her dog. He continued to eat while watching the dog being fed a mixture of dog biscuits and water while getting rubbed behind the ears, the boy let his mind wander a bit as he considered buying himself a dog.

"Hey, you ready to leave?" asked Corinne, snapping Kai out of his thoughts.

"Like that?" he raised an eyebrow, pointing out her outfit choice as being a bit unsuitable.

"Yeah… ok then, you can wait while I get ready," she retorted, sighing she placed her plate in the dishwasher and trotted back upstairs.

Half an hour later a fresh-faced, showered and dressed Corinne happily met Kai in the living room, he didn't bother repeating the glare that she had gotten so many times from him in the less than 24 hours they had known each other.

The Chinese girl scribbled a note (Friend stayed over last night because his car stopped working, gone to take him home. Will be out til after dinner, don't wait up. – Cori), before grabbing her motorcycle keys and dragging Kai out the front door.

They arrived at the place where Kai's evo had run out of fuel, both hopped off the Harley Davidson in unison and Corinne popped the compartment of her large motorcycle. She handed Kai the spare container of petrol she had inside.

"Well I must say, it was different meeting you but nonetheless I think we had some good times…" started the girl, then she silently cursed herself for being so polite, "anyway, uhmm… yeah I'm gonna go. I might see you around. Bye."

The blunette looked at her for a moment before a small smile appeared on his usually emotionless face, it was the first sincere one she had seen since they'd met. He nodded in gratitude, she smiled back and hopped back on her Harley and drove off.

**Time break**

"And for homework girls I want you to finish the activities on the handouts," called Mrs. Patrick as the class noisily packed away their things just as the bell had signaled the end of a very long and boring day at school.

Corinne and her friend Mischa picked up their stuff and headed back to their designated lockers, the Chinese girl wishing she was still at the garage working reception and watching the mechanics fix and "improve" all sorts of cars, her Canadian friend was day-dreaming also but about the boy she was currently dating.

"Hey Cori?" said Mischa as the other girl fumbled through her locker for the day's worth of homework.

"Hmm?" Replied Corinne, not looking up.

"I think that guy coming down the hall is here to see you."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because you're the only car junkie here and he's holding a petrol container…"

"What?" said Corinne, surprised, she finally looked up and saw Kai coming towards her, "shit… what's he doing here?!"

"You know him? He's kinda cute, your new fling?" teased the strawberry-blonde.

"Uh… no way! Just someone I know through Keiko," explained the Chinese girl, "we are soo not an item."

By now Kai had already reached the two, causing many curious glances from the other girls and whispers of "hey, who's that hottie?" and "is he allowed here?"

"Do you know you have to report to administration before entering school premises?" demanded Corinne to Kai.

The Russian opened his jacket to reveal a visitors badge.

"Here," he said and handed Corinne the re-filled petrol container as well as a small black parcel and a glossy black plastic bag which had her dad's clothes in it, cleaned and pressed, smelling lightly of Burberry.

"Umm… thanks, what's this?" asked Corinne, examining the black parcel, she waited for a reply that never came as Kai had already turned and left.

"Well that was rude," muttered the brunette, although she wasn't one bit surprised.

"What's in the parcel?" asked Mischa excitedly, "ooh, maybe it's like a love-token…"

"Yeah right, probably just some stupid prank to make an idiot out of me again," mumbled Corinne as she ripped away the black packaging…

**Cookie: **Lol… the first person to guess what's in the parcel gets a prize!


	6. Algebra homework and Hugo Boss cologne

**Cookie: **Thanks for the reviews  DV and "somebody", but no one guessed what it was ….

Corinne tore away the black paper packaging and to her surprise found a brand new cell-phone, it was one of the new ones that had only just arrived in NZ and cost about 3 times as much as her old one did.

"Wow… the guy must like you a lot to give you something like that," remarked Mischa.

"Shut up you," The brunette stuck her tongue out, "he probably hates me but wants to flaunt his wealth or something."

"Why do you have to be so pessimistic towards the guy?"

"I'm not! Honestly, I don't think he even likes me as a friend."

"Do you want him to?"

"No!"

"Oh bullshit, I bet you secretly fancy the boy. I mean, I would if I wasn't already taken."

-sigh- "Mish, I do not like Kai Hiwatari, he is a stuck up, rude little brat."

"Oooh so it's Mr. Hiwatari is it?"

The strawberry-blonde received a warning glare and shut up about it, but still grinned from ear to ear, "anyway, there's a party Friday night at Ricky's place. Want to go?"

"I can't remember? Dad grounded me for a week because I broke my phone. God knows what he would have done if I told him I completely smashed my car. Friggin' bugs are everywhere." Reminded Corinne pursing her lips at the memory.

Mischa laughed at her, "we'll think of something."

"No really, if I sneak out that's gonna be it. He'll confiscate my Harley too," warned the Chinese girl, "I can miss out on one party, it's not going to kill me."

"Fine, fine, your loss though!" The Canadian winked and headed towards the doors to leave.

Corinne stared at her massive pile of homework and sighed again, it was going to be a long night… her thoughts were interrupted when the phone in her hands beeped out an All American Rejects tune, she almost dropped it in surprise.

"H-Hello?" asked Corinne uncertainly.

"Dinner, tonight, I'll pick you up." Said the voice from the other end whom she recognized as Kai's.

"What the hell Hiwatari? YOU GAVE ME A FRIGGIN' PHONE! Are you completely insane? I barely know you…" she suddenly stopped yelling, the tone on the other end was dead. _ARGH! How can one person be so frustrating! He didn't even say when or where he was going to pick me up, I didn't even agree! Who does he think he is, he can't just barge into my life like this! And I thought I wasn't "his type", god-damned Russian… I'm not going to go._

She firmly nodded, _I'm not going to go, _and picked up her bag which weighed about as much as she did (which isn't that light!). Corinne trotted along the hallway humming "paper heart" and subconsciously noted it as one of Kai's favorite songs.

She barely got out of the school gate when a maniacal driver swerved in front of her, missing her feet by mere centimeters, it was a navy blue convertible but the roof was on and tinted windows wound up so she couldn't see who the idiot of a driver was.

This just wasn't her day…

The phone rang again.

"What?" Corinne practically screamed down the receiver.

-silence-

"Hiwatari, what do you want?" said the girl impatiently, he was the only one who had this number and she was in an incredibly bad mood by now.

"Get in the car," said Kai in his usual calm and collected voice.

"Nuh uh, I'm not going anywhere with you. I have a tonne of homework tonight and I'm grounded so there is no way I'm having dinner with you. Mr. you're-not-my-type." Said the Asian, still bitter about his comment.

"I've called up your dad and he said it's fine, there's a few hours until dinner and lastly it's not a date," replied Kai.

"Uhmm… how about no? Don't you understand English?" shot the brunette, she hung up the phone and walked towards her black motorcycle.

The blue convertible slowly trailed after her, she stopped abruptly, turned around and banged on the hood. GO AWAY she mouthed to Kai who was looking at her amused. He just kept following her until eventually they had reached her bike.

Corinne walked around to the driver's side of the car and pulled open the door, "what's going to make you leave me alone?"

"Have dinner with me," replied Kai.

"If you're not calling it a date, then what is it?"

"A gesture of thanks."

"Well don't bother."

"You're being stubborn."

"I am not and besides, I can't just leave my bike here can I?"

Kai who obviously got a cell phone for himself pushed a series of keys on it and in seconds a second silver convertible drove up, a Rave-haired boy got out of the passenger seat and came towards the pair.

"Rei, can you take her bike home?" asked the blunette.

"No problem," the Asian boy winked at Corinne before going towards the Harley.

"Hey wait! Don't try to wiring it up!" yelled the girl, she threw her key to him then mentally slapped herself for doing so, she didn't want to go with Kai! What the hell was she doing!

"Get in," it was more of a comment than a request from Kai.

"I'm in my school uniform…" pointed out the brunette, she received a shrug from Kai.

Corinne rolled her eyes and shut the door on Kai, she walked round to the passenger seat and got in, "what did you say to my folks?"

"Well… I told them I was taking you out to dinner and that I'll help you with your homework beforehand," replied Kai pulling out of the one way street.

"And they agreed that you could take me?" said the girl skeptically.

"Actually, at first they were pretty determined on keeping you grounded. I told them it was my fault you broke your phone and I sort of sent them out for dinner and a concert." The Russian explained.

"What kind of parents are bought off that easily," muttered Corinne to herself, then noticing that they weren't heading in the direction of anyplace she could think of she remembered to ask where they were going.

"You'll see," replied Kai, he pulled into the driveway of a very large… make that very very large house.

"Where are we?" asked the Asian girl curiously.

"My house," answered Kai, as if everyone in the world lived in such luxury.

"Rich spoilt brat," murmured Corinne, thinking it was too soft for Kai to hear.

"I could almost say the same about you,"

"Oh yeah, because I really live in a mansion and give people I've only known for 3 days expensive cell phones and have on-call friends."

"Rei and Tyson were planned beforehand, it was my fault you broke your phone and it's not like I'm the only one who lives in there."

"Well obviously you'd have your parents and probably twenty maids and butlers and drivers and stuff."

"My parents are dead."

"- And like pets… what? Oh…" her tone softened immediately, she suddenly felt bad for all the mean things she had said to him.

"Don't do that," said Kai.

"What?" she asked innocently.

"The sympathetic thing," replied Kai getting out of the car.

"Oh…"

She followed Kai past the massive front fountain and into the house/mansion, up a flight of stairs to what she guessed was his room. It was a considerably modest room, being the size of an entire floor of her house and all.

Kai pointed to a door on one side of the room obviously wanting her to go in. So she did.

It was the bathroom, one whole wall was a mirror and there was a separate shower and bath, the whole thing looked like it had just stepped out of a catalogue, even the hand towels were wrapped in little paper packages. _Shit this guy is rich…_

She looked around wondering why he asked her to come in here then noticed a black box (god this guy likes black!), it had a yellow post-it note that read; Corinne- put this on.

_Err… what the hell…._ She lifted the lid off, _omigosh! It's so pretty!_

She slid a pink cocktail dress out of the box and changed into it, _hey it fits perfectly! Kai you pervert, how does he know my size? Hmph… _she stuffed her clothes in her bag as well as her shoes as the dress came with a pair of pink heels. She went back into the room and did a little twirl for Kai, feeling a little out of character she giggled at herself nervously.

"You look good," said the Russian.

"Hmm… thanks," grinned Corinne, deciding not to point out how he got the perfect size for the dress and shoes.

"Homework?"

-groan- "Must I?"

This was met by a raised eyebrow, "You used it as an excuse, so you're going to do it."

"I know, I know," said the girl exasperated, she pulled out her folders and sat at Kai's desk doing her algebra, still feeling quite stupid in a party dress doing homework.

A few minutes later…

"Hey Kai?"

"Hmm?" the Russian looked up from the book he was reading on his bed.

"Help?" asked Corinne, grinning sheepishly.

Kai got off the bed and walked towards her, he pulled up a chair, she could feel his warmth through the silky material of the dress and she could smell his cologne, today it was Hugo Boss… her thoughts drifted away from algebra and to the last time she had kissed a guy…


	7. My bubble!

**Cookie: **Woot! People reviewed!!! –prances around like a maniac- Uhmm… anyhow, here's the next chapter, exams are finally over so I may or may not update more.

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Kai got off the bed and walked towards her, he pulled up a chair, she could feel his warmth through the silky material of the dress and she could smell his cologne, today it was Hugo Boss… her thoughts drifted away from algebra and to the last time she had kissed a guy… _SNAP OUT OF IT CORINNE! YOU DISLIKE HIM REMEMBER?!_

"You're invading my bubble," said Corinne.

"Excuse me?" asked Kai, uncertain as to what she was talking about.

"My bubble… you know, personal space. You're too close." She explained hastily, feeling slightly childish.

"Oh," Kai pushed his seat a few centimeters away, slightly confused as girls usually wanted to get closer to him.

A few minutes later…

"That's why X equals 25.87, do you get it now?" said Kai after explaining a long and incredibly pointless question about library carpets to Corinne.

"Uh huh…" she replied in a daze, after the first two words her mind had sort of zoned out, out of its own accord of course.

"You have no idea what I'm talking about do you?" Kai accused.

The girl smiled at him sheepishly and packed away her algebra work instead deciding to focus on English essays.

"I can do English, unless you just want to sit there invading the bubble," grinned the Chinese girl.

Kai just got up and left, returning to the bed and his book. Apparently this guy was okay with having a girl he barely knew dressed in a cocktail dress and heels doing homework in his room while he read, in complete silence. Actually, it was rather awkward for Cori, it was so quiet she was scared of breathing too loudly and ended up trying to emit the sound waves of a mouse instead of doing a good job on her homework.

"I'm done," whispered Corinne, testing to see if he could hear her even when she tried to make as tiny a sound as possible.

No reply.

"Can you hear me Kai?" she continued whispering in the same tone.

"Yeah, you're acting like a child," replied the slate haired boy without looking up from his book, "we'll go to dinner then, get up."

Suddenly thinking that it would be best to do as told without questioning, the brunette hopped out of her chair and picked up her bag trying with all her might to not crease the dress. Strong hands took it from her, she looked at Kai in amusement…

"No idea you understood the concept of chivalry," remarked Corinne.

"That's a Versace dress," replied Kai.

"And an Armani suit," countered the girl, she had saw the label on the blazer beforehand and was really quite amazed at him for wearing such an expensive suit for a dinner date, which she later found out wasn't as casual as originally expected.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Kai, what are we doing here?" Corinne glared at the Russian boy for taking her to the Town hall for a dinner, _a dinner in the town hall, yeah… that's something most people do. Goddammit, I feel so out of place here, what is this anyway? It feels like someone's reception._

Before Kai could answer a certain raven-haired Chinese boy came up to the pair and grinned from ear to ear, a row of perfectly straight teeth were only complimented by the slightly fanged canines.

"Hey Kai, how's it going?" said Rei, he extended a hand to Corinne, "I don't think we were properly introduced before, I'm Rei Kon."

"Corinne Ling," she smiled politely giving his hand a firm shake, not noticing the look of mischief in his eyes.

The boy wrapped an arm around Corinne, "I'm going to take your date for a dance, sorry Kai, you snooze you loose!"

With that he steered her away onto the dance floor where a soft melody was being hummed out by a string quartet.

"I never agreed to no dancing!" hissed Corinne trying to keep in beat with the waltz and doing a surprisingly good job considering the last time she danced waltz was when she was 8 and that was standing on her dad's feet to do so.

"Yeah, but I wanted to steal you away from Kai and see how he would react," replied Rei, "besides, we're having fun aren't we?"

"Uh huh, the time of my life," replied the brunette sarcastically, "dude, these heels are killing me… I don't usually wear heels, you don't need them for driving!"

Rei sighed, "I don't see what Kai likes in you at all, apart from the obvious fact that you're a girl physically there's nothing that really separates you from me. Well, except for maybe the pink dress."

"Are you calling me a boy?" glared Corinne, her eye twitched.

"No, not at all," laughed Rei innocently.

"The two of you are so impossibly annoying," she continued to glare at him, in the corner of her eye she noticed that Kai was looking at the pair while they danced.

"So you finally noticed he cares that I've stolen his girl," commented the boy, his rhythm was perfect as he twirled her around in his Dior suit.

"Okay, for one I am not his girl, and two, he's just staring because I'm making an idiot of myself on the dancefloor hobbling around like an old lady," shot the girl, obviously hinting that she wanted to sit down. Rei took the hint and released her with a kiss on the cheek which she returned with a thanks and darted back off to her seat.

Kai looked at her for a moment before returning back to his champagne.

"Are you legally allowed to drink?" questioned Corinne suspiciously.

"No," replied Kai, a glare of light teased with him for a moment while he sought out the source which turned out to be a girl two tables across, her diamante earrings catching the light.

She caught Kai's glance and smiled at him, un-naturally red locks of hair framed a pale but very well set face, she wore an emerald green dress that brought out her features even more.

The girl got up and walked towards their table, obviously ignoring the fact Kai was with a date.

"Hi, I'm Portia," she introduced, smiling through cherry lips, "I was wondering if you'd like to dance?"

Kai stood gracefully without glancing at Corinne leading the red-haired girl into a four beat dance.

Corinne sat sipping her mock-tail and watched her date dance with someone who was about fifteen centimeters taller than her and probably a lot thinner, she felt a pang of possessiveness but shrugged it off as she reasoned that in fact she herself had danced with another person. Besides which, she didn't even like Kai.

The song finished on a vibrato (I have no idea what means what in music so forgive me if that's completely wrong), the Russian boy kissed her on the hand before returning her to her seat and then coming black to claim his own.

The Chinese girl who was supposed to be his date smiled at him politely, and tried to make some light conversation, "you dance well."

"Confidence fools everyone," replied Kai, it surprised her that he being modest about this.

"Haha… yeah, wish I could fool people like that," muttered Corinne to herself, wincing at how badly (she thought) she had messed up the waltz with Rei.

They just sat without talking, listening to the music and Cori hoping like hell that Kai would decide he'd gotten sick of her and took her home.

"I need air," she excused her self and headed towards the bathrooms.

---------------

The Chinese girl looked at her reflection in the mirror, apart from her usual coat of lipgloss there was no makeup adorning her face and suddenly she felt incredibly naked remember the elegant ensemble Portia had. _Oh well… at least I'm not here to impress anyone, and hopefully I can leave soon._

She splashed some water on her face and dried herself off with a paper towel, soft giggling caught her attention. The brunette turned on her heels (literally) to come face to face with Portia and she was right about being 15cm shorter than the beauty, even with heels on.

"Oh, you're Kai's date…" she commented distastefully, "I suppose he was too nice to turn you down."

"I think that's the case for you," replied Corinne calmly, she scrunched up the paper towel and shot it into the bin before heading out of the bathrooms. _I just cannot, will not stand people who think they are better than me. _

Corinne reached their table, Rei had taken over her seat and smiled patting the seat beside him.

"No thank you, can we please leave? The atmosphere here is quite, suffocating," said the girl wanting to get as far away from the made-up prima donnas that strutted around eyeing up guys, there were a few who looked like honestly nice people but she wasn't ready to take the risk of finding out.

"I'll take her home if you want," offered Rei, he received a glare from Kai for a split second before adding that he was just kidding and that he had to take care of Mariah anyway.

Kai grabbed his blazer and they left through one of the sets of the double glass doors, he absentmindedly coated her with the blazer as it was chilly outside and she was wearing a spaghetti strapped concoction.

"Thanks," smiled Corinne, once again reminded of the soft sweet scent of men's perfume.

They hopped into the blue convertible, thinking she was being taken home Corinne was very much mistaken when they headed towards one of her favourite places…


	8. Sweet as a lolly

**Cookie: **chapter 8 (obviously)… read and review and whatever I'm supposed to say in these blah blah blah etc. etc.

They hopped into the blue convertible, thinking she was being taken home Corinne was very much mistaken when they headed towards one of her favourite places…

Brown orbs followed the rhythm of water as it melted onto the sand and then got sucked back up, it provided such peaceful serenity. They darted left to glimpse the creamy complexioned boy sitting at the drivers seat, seemingly transfixed by the view also.

"Kai…?"

"Hmm?"

"Why are we at the beach?"

"You wanted to leave, so we left."

"You didn't answer my question."

"Because I like it."

"Fine."

Finding this conversation like many before it completely pointless, Corinne decided to just shut up and enjoy the view, staying in the car because it would be an idiotic idea to walk in the wind in such a thin dress.

"Do you know what date it is?" asked Kai.

"Umm… I think it's the 2nd of February, why?" replied the brunette.

"Oh, ok." Said the Russian, he seemed to be plotting something in his head.

"When can I go home?" Corinne was worried as it was starting to get dark, _god knows what this pervert is thinking._

"You're not going home tonight," answered Kai calmly, then seeing the terrified look on her face he added, "I was… not serious."

They pulled up in Corinne's driveway, her parents had already arrived home and it was currently pouring with rain. Thunder could be heard close by and lightning followed at a distance.

"Mom, dad, I'm home!" the Chinese girl yelled as she walked through the door, her mother had wavy black hair put up in a bun and was wearing a red bathrobe as she came to greet her daughter.

"Oh my, wherever did you get that dress from? It's lovely, you think it would fit on me?" said Mrs Ling, only half joking.

"No mom, the dress is going back to Kai." Replied the girl impatiently, Kai stood right beside her, his expression oddly polite.

"There's no need for that, I don't wear dresses," commented the blunette.

"Kai, come and have a seat. How was your dinner?" Corinne's dad had come out from the kitchen with a tray of steaming hot chocolates.

They entered the living room and sat soft plushy couches that drowned half your body and sipped on hot chocolates, making awkward, light conversation before Mrs. Ling decided she would go to bed.

"I'm up early tomorrow, Kai, do stay the night. I don't think the weather out there permits anyone to drive." She said to the only boy in that room, Corinne's eye twitched slightly… _MOM! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!_ Although it was gone un-noticed by all.

"Yes, I think that would be for the best," insisted Mr. Ling, "Oh and Corinne, your grandmother came at lunchtime to stay. She's currently in the guestroom, I hope you haven't forgot about her trip? So I guess it would be alright if Kai took your bed."

"Sure… great," muttered Corinne through gritted teeth, of all the times for granny to come visit! _I absolutely hate my parents… it's as if they want something to happen between me and Kai. WHAT KIND OF PARENTS WANT THAT FOR THEIR CHILD?! _

The two older Chinese smiled and bid the teenagers goodnight, leaving them alone on the couch, alone, in a room…

"Go. My room. Now." She could only speak in broken sentences, the thought of giving up her King sized bed to _him _was torturous.

Kai who hadn't spoken a word as of yet decided it would be best not to argue and went upstairs, Corinne sighed and started pulling out the convertible couch.

Cori rolled over and felt something hard and uncomfortable sticking into her backside, half waking her. She slipped a hand behind and fished out the remote control, then couldn't for the life of her remember why she was sleeping on the couch.

Still in a sleep-induced state she reasoned that it must be because she fell asleep watching TV and decided to go to bed.

She dragged herself up the stairs, not wanting to open her eyes in fear of waking up and slipped herself into the comfortable, soft bed. Not realizing that it was already occupied for she was still groggy and not physically able to think.

Bright silver eyes were revealed as Kai fluttered open his eyelids, it took him less than a moment to remember where he was. A warm weight was lying beside him, tucking herself under his arm and hugging him like a pillow. _What is she doing here? Did we… no, I would have remembered if we did, besides which she wouldn't have agreed anyway. Maybe she changed her mind and got lonely? _

Not wanting to wake Corinne when she could have another twenty minutes of sleep before breakfast, Kai decided to stay completely still and enjoy the company of a female who appeared to be so attached to him despite her constant bickering and complaints.

**Twenty minutes later…**

"Mmmm," Corinne murmured contentedly as she snuggled closer to what she thought was a pillow, then suddenly she snapped awake. Pillows weren't warm, or hard, or… HUMAN!

"AAAAARH!" Screamed the girl, she sat up and crawled as far away from Kai as possible, the blankets wrapped tightly around her.

"Shh... You'll wake your grandmother," hushed Kai, keeping his usual composure.

"KEEP CALM? KEEP CALM?! HOW CAN I KEEP CALM WHEN I JUST SPENT A NIGHT WITH YOU?! Did you… NO you can't have…" she said the last sentence to herself.

"Nothing happened," assured Kai, "but since you stole my innocence, I think you owe me."

"I OWE YOU?!" Shouted Corinne outraged, "I think Kai Hiwatari, you have some explaining to do."

"Hey, you're the one who slipped into the bed yourself!" argued Kai, "the least you could do is go out with me."

Corinne slumped her shoulders as the faint memory crossed over her mind and she realized what had happened, while mentally kicking herself about a billion times… _I'm stupid, I'm so stupid, I'm so stupid…_

"You haven't answered me yet," pointed Kai, breaking her out of her mental chant.

Her eyes locked on him while she considered how much the guy annoyed her in comparison to the nice things he had done for her and not forgetting the physical attraction…

"FINE!" Yelled Corinne, still not fully calm, "one mistake and you're gone!"

Kai blinked, he hadn't realized that she would actually agree and for once he didn't have a witty response on hand.

The blunette moved closer to Corinne, they were mere inches apart and decreasing in distance with every second. Kai stared squarely into her eyes before tilting his head and planting a soft kiss on her cheek.

"Get ready for school, I'll make breakfast," he whispered, kissing her on the cheek again before jumping off the bed and heading towards the kitchen.

The Chinese girl sat on the bed, half dazed for a moment as she touched the tingling spot where Kai's lips had just rested. Then, she smiled like a little girl who had just tasted the sweetest lolly Willy Wonka could offer.


	9. You're not a stranger

Disclaimer: I am not in ownership of Beyblade… etc. Very very late chapter haha… u forgive and R&R

Corinne pulled open her locker, thousands and thousands of gold paper roses poured out onto her causing a few angry and jealous glares from her fellow pupils. Blushing profusely, she picked one up and unfolded it; "Happy Valentines Day – Kai"

"Ooh, how romantic," teased Mischa, shoulder-reading.

"Try embarrassing and utterly wasteful, imagine the amount of trees that died making these which by the way are going into the bin." Muttered Corinne cynically, even though inside her mind neurons were firing odes of happiness (if that's even possible).

"Umm… Cori…" started the strawberry blonde, "it's the third of February…"

"Yeah? And?... Oh… Wtf?! I'll ask the idiot what's up," she mumbled whipping out the cellphone Kai had given her.

badadadumdadadumdadadumdaddadum (Kai's personal ringtone)

K "Hello?"

C "Hey… do you know it's the third of February?"

K "Is that all you wanted to ask me?"

C "Well… yeah…"

K "I'm well aware of the date thanks."

C "Then why did you put all those roses in my locker?"

K "What are you talking about? If you want me to do that I can… is this a hint?"

C "Nothing, never mind. Bye"

K "Bye?"

Corinne glanced nervously at Mischa, "He says they aren't from him…"

"Oh that's bullshit! Who else would they be from? Although… Kai Hiwatari wouldn't forgo an opportunity to own up to something like that." Thought Mischa aloud.

"Anyway, I'm gonna clean this up and then I'm off home. What're you up to?"

"Paaaaartay tonight," grinned Misch.

"Paaaaartay every night," Corinne rolled her eyes, "where's it at?"

"The Monkey Bar, only the hottest nightclub ever! You should so come and bring that cutie of yours," she jumped up and down in excitement.

"Are you serious? Me? At a nightclub? The only thing that dances worse than I do is the decaying sheep we had to dissect in bio." Replied Corinne dryly.

"Yeah well, I've seen Mr. Hiwatari dance and that boy is smooth as. He can teach you a few things."

"When did you see Kai dance?! What are you talking about??"

"Uh… anyway, party starts at 9. Be there okay?" Mischa grinned, completely avoiding the questions and running down the hallway.

Corinne sighed and scooped up a handful of the roses, suddenly realizing that they were actually all strung together by a thin fishing line. She opened the one following the first; "Okay, I lied… It's not Valentines day and I'm not Kai."

Feeling somewhat creeped out yet curious at the same time she kept going;

"Now that I've got your attention I just wanted to tell you that…"

"I've decided I want you and I ALWAYS get what I want…"

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you, not like Kai will anyway…"

"Oh yes, didn't you know Kai has deep dark secrets?"

"Plenty in fact, I can share them with you if you want."

"Meet me at the Vatican's party tonight, 10:30 at the west bar."

"I'll be the one wearing a black t-shirt and drinking a Speights."

The rest of the roses were blank. Corinne decided to cut the nine roses off and threw the rest away, Kai should see this and have a chance to explain. She didn't really care enough about their relationship to be worried by this stranger's threats. After all, she and Kai had only been going out for a day.

"Hey," greeted the Russian giving Corinne a peck on the cheek as she got into the car.

"Hey… you should look at this," she said handing him the string of what used to be roses.

Kai cocked an eyebrow at her but looked at the notes anyway, his expression remained impassive as if he was entirely not surprised by it at all.

"Do you seriously believe this is anything more than a joke?"

"I'm not laughing am I?"

"Well if you really want to go see this black t-shirt clad mystery man then go straight ahead, I'm not letting you go alone though."

"No, I don't really care. It doesn't bother me, if you say it's a joke, then it's a joke."

"When did you become so trusting of me?"

"I just don't give enough of a shit to find out about your "deep dark secrets"" she laughed, saying the quote in a deep and serious voice.

Kai grinned at her, "so, where do you want to head off to now?"

"Home."

"Mine?"

"You wish!" she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Yes I do wish," Kai smirked back.

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Hey Bebe, what's up?" Rei smiled as he caught sight of Corinne.

"Who's Bebe?" She asked

"Oh shit... sorry, Kai's brought home so many girls I get their names confused. It's Corinne right?" apologized Rei, testing the two-toned haired Russian at the same time.

"Thin ice Rei..." mumbled Hiwatari.

Rei laughed, apologized then excused himself and went back to his room with two Midori & sodas for his girlfriend and himself.

"So... do you, you know..." muttered Kai, he suddenly appeared somewhat shy and bashful.

Cori laughed, "Hiwatari, are you blushing?"

"NO!" snapped Kai impatiently, he walked up to his room in a dignified manner with the brunette chuckling behind him.

Once inside the boy's room, Corinne was reminded of his lavish and extravagant furnishings... that bed, you know the one that you see in furniture shops and it's over-priced but so incredibly plush and comfortable... yeah... well, Kai had one of those. With Egyptian cotton sheets, in black. Go figure.

"Well, I'm gonna bum on your bed," she puckered her lips and flung off her shoes before jumping onto the massive king-sized bed and pretty much drowning in luxurious comfort.

Kai glanced at her then went into his bathroom, ten minutes passed and Cori fell asleep, as you do in incredibly comfortable beds.

The lithe Russian came out of the bathroom, hair dripping wet and in his customary after-shower attire; boxer shorts and, well, that's it.

He got onto the bed beside her, finding it funny how only last night she had been so grouchy and yet crept into bed with _him_. Whereas now, he was the one doing the "creeping".

He placed a gentle peck on her forehead and got out the book he was currently reading, titled _Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen._ Ok, just kidding. Kai whipped out his black PSP and continued his quest for ultimate racing glory.

Almost finishing and in first place for an online race, he dropped the PSP suddenly as a smooth, school-jumper clad arm draped itself across his waist.

Looking down, he saw the petite girl pull herself towards him and snuggle up at his side. Kai grinned, _I knew I'd grow on you._

11:00pm

"OMG SHIT SHIT SHIT!!! IT'S 11:30! Kaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!! Why didn't you wake me?!" whined Corinne, finally awake and still stuck like a limpet to Kai's side.

"Would you believe me if I said you were sleeping like an angel?"

"Angels don't sleep!"

"Well if they did..."

"No I wouldn't believe you."

"Good, because that was an absolute lie. You snore like no other girl I've ever met and I'm pretty sure you drooled a bit too."

"Fuck you."

"Please do."

She glared at him, "can you take me home?"

"Are you sure you don't want to carry out your last offer?" teased Kai getting up and throwing on a t-shirt and some jeans.

"Positive," she huffed and slid off the bed and put her shoes on.

Kai wrapped an arm around her shoulder and led her down to the evolution, unlocking her side of the door first. Corinne got in and pulled open the lock for Kai (this is so irrelevant but I always thought if a guy opens the door for you, only good manners to make it easier for him to get into _his own car_).

They were slowing down to a red light when the Chinese girl glanced out the window, a pretty blonde girl was in jeans and a glittery halter stumbling along the road. Two rather well built guys seemed to be hassling her, laughing and grabbing at her inappropriately and roughly.

Corinne gave a disgusted "ugh" only to realize on closer inspection that the girl was Mischa, only Mischa doesn't get drunk... at least not willingly.

"Shit," she muttered, "Kai, stop the car. Misch is being hassled by a couple of jerks."

Kai gave no acknowledgement of hearing her but pulled the car over and jumped out.

"Hey, get your filthy hands off her!" He called to the two guys.

They turned around. The slightly shorter blonde laughed, "who the hell do you think you are? We'll do whatever we like to this doll here."

"Misch! MISCHA, get over here!" Corinne yelled at her friend, she rushed over to them, "let her go you fucking manwhores!"

"Oh yeah? I think we'll just have to take you too," laughed the taller guy, his laughter was cut short as Kai threw him a punch in the jaw.

The guy was stunned, but soon regained his posture and returned a punch at Kai while the blonde came and started kicking at the Russian.

Strong as Kai may be, these two were pretty big guys and he was out-numbered.

Corinne felt a sudden twitch in her heart for this stupid, annoying, cocky, cute guy she barely knew and was desperate for someone to come along and help. Cops would take too long, so she grabbed her cellphone and dialed as fast as she could for Michael's number.

Before she could press call however, neighborhood patrol showed up, two uniformed men came along and broke up the fight. After doing breath tests and getting confirmed statements they let Kai and Corinne who was supporting Mischa leave.

"I'll drive," was all she could muster, mentally slapping herself for being so cold and heartless to someone who had just gotten a beating for helping _her_ friend.

"Hn," Kai replied and helped her put Mischa in the back seat.

_In the car on the way to Mischa's house:_

"Are... are you alright?" mumbled the brunette.

No answer.

"Kai? Kai??"

No answer.

"KAI??!" She nervously glanced over at him, he seemed to be conscious...

"You're really loud," he muttered back.

"sorry..." Cori apologized, the rest of the trip to Mischa's house was in a suspenseful and awkward silence.

They dropped Mischa off and Corinne drove home.

"MOM? DAD? ARE YOU GUYS HOME?" She called as soon as she got into the house, only after getting out of the car did she realise how badly Kai was hurt and she supported him into the living room and onto the couch.

Dressed in his pajamas, Corinne's dad came down the stairs.

"Young lady! Do you know what time---" He cut himself short as he caught sight of Kai, "what happened? No that's not important at the moment, I'll go get the first aid kit."

He handed the small white box to Corinne, assuming her mother had taught her enough first aid to handle something like this.

"I'm fine, really... I just need to go home and sleep." Kai insisted, he sat up only to be pushed back down by the Chinese girl.

"YOU STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!" she growled at him and started dabbing at his wounds with some bethadine (an antiseptic cream).

"Do you need me for anything?" asked her dad, deciding not to question what had happened and letting his daughter do her thing.

"No, I'm fine dad. Thanks," she forced a smile at him, he smiled back and trawled back to his bedroom.

She peeled the blood-stained t-shirt off Kai and carefully cleaned up what looked like a deep cut from a ring on his collarbone. After she had patched him up, Corinne realized she was crying and wasn't even sure why.

"Am I that pathetic?" asked Kai.

"What? No, not at all!" She exclaimed, angrily brushing away her tears, "I'm sorry, I don't even know what's wrong with me."

"I'm sorry..."

"What for? You pretty much saved both of us from rape and other stuff and you barely know me!"

Kai looked away and Corinne realized her mistake, he was giving her so much and she still treated him as a stranger. It was... just so unfamiliar to try and accept another guy in her life after the whole Eric thing. He had been her everything but hey, he had also been another girl's everything at the same time.

"Kai... I - I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that!"

"It's fine, at least I know where I stand."

"No! That's not true! Tonight I finally saw you, the you that isn't always so cocky and confident, the you that doesn't succeed at everything!"

"Way to boost my self-esteem."

"Let me finish! What I mean to say is, tonight i finally saw you as human. And well..." she finished by bringing her lips up to his. Their first proper kiss; his slightly bruised lips against her softly lip-balmed ones.

Ignoring any pain from his wounds, Kai gently slid his hand behind her neck and pushed her closer, deeper, into a more passionate kiss.

He felt this urge for her, this need and not like the sexual hormonal crap he used to be able to satisfy with any girl, this feeling made him want no other guys to ever hold her the way he could, feel her breathing on his neck in the mornings, watch her throw little fits of anger, two days between them felt like years. Years that he didn't want to end anytime soon.

Corinne broke away from him, gasping for air. She grinned, feeling the warm tingling on her lips of friction.

"I'll be right back," she promised and ran upstairs to get changed into her pajamas.

Kai slumped off the couch while she pulled it out into a bed and set up the covers, she unbuttoned his jeans and slid them off slowly and deliberately and dragged him under the covers with her.

"I think... I may be falling in love with you," Kai whispered to her.

"We've been going out for two days, how is that possible?" she whispered back, "but I think I like you too."

Kai chuckled even though it hurt to do so, he was gonna take an "I like you too" for now but eventually, they could get in really deep and he wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not.


	10. conquering the world or just parents

Cookie: Ownage of, not mine. Etc. etc.

Kai chuckled even though it hurt to do so, he was gonna take an "I like you too" for now but eventually, he feared both of them would invest more than they could afford…

4 months later chappy break

"Hey Hiwatari, there's a funnily stamped letter here for you." Rei threw a medium-sized brown envelope at the blunette before grabbing his mail and walking towards the entertainment room

Kai looked at the Russian postage stamps and his heart fell in dread. _This. Is. Not. Good..._

He ripped open the letter;

_Congratulations! You have managed to escape Russia for almost two years before our satellites traced you, but you'd have to do better than that Kai. If you really couldn't keep yourself hidden for at least twenty years then we need to keep training you here at the Abbey. You didn't really think you're grandfather was capacitated enough to remember to write you a will did you? All of this has obviously been a test for us to see how capable you are. You have proved to have some pleasing results but as I aforementioned, further training is required of you. I have sent a couple of men to fetch you within the next week so be prepared to leave, say goodbye to your little girlfriend. She's quite the cute one._

_--Boris--_

Kai dropped the letter, a cold crept over him like nothing he had ever experienced before. _What will happen to Corinne? Can I escape? Can I fight... shit, no way am I strong enough to fight their men and there's nowhere to run or hide. I guess I'll have to live this out and see what happens.. But I don't want to leave her, hah, since when has my wants ever been significant to Boris. I have to push her away before I can hurt her. Before I let them hurt her too..._

Corinne traced a dribble of water from her sweating iced tea glass, waiting sucked, especially waiting alone for a date. Kai has never made her wait like this before! Half an hour! _God, the nerve! He better have some pretty freaking good explanation for this. _Another ten minutes passed. _Oh screw it, he can go to hell._

She stood and stomped out of the cafe, so angry she didn't notice she walked straight into Rei and whacked her forehead against his shoulder (yes she was that short).

"Ow, shit... sorry..." mumbled Corinne, "Oh, Rei... hi."

"Hello," replied Rei with a bemused smile, quickly replaced with an all serious face, "sorry I'm late, I was supposed to be meeting you in place of Kai and well... I got distracted."

Corinne rolled her eyes, _we all know what 'distracted' means for Rei. _"Yeah okay, why couldn't he make it himself?"

"Because Kai's chicken shit, he's not big enough to break up with you himself so I as best friend melodramatic sigh get the honors of breaking your heart." Said Rei, in a matter-of-fact manner.

The brunette was sure this wasn't the first time Rei's had to discharge one of Kai's girlfriends, _and I was beginning to like the bastard too. What a waste of emotions, fuck Kai._

"Corinne, are you alright?" asked Rei, he seemed genuinely concerned.

"Of course I'm fine," she gave a small laugh, "why wouldn't I be? It's not like we dated very long anyway and besides, I couldn't stand the guy, he was so full of himself! He's not even that cute! And he's totally losing that six-pack and we kissed like, a few times and ugh, I don't care about Kai Hiwatari one bit. Good riddance to him, thank god it's finally over. Oh look at the time, hey I really have to finish something down at the garage so I'll see you around, maybe. Bye."

She smiled once more then jogged to her Skyline and pulled into the road, as fast as possible away from Rei. Unaware of where she was headed, Corinne was surprised when she found herself outside Kai's house. _What the hell is wrong with me?! What am I doing here? I must not be thinking... geez._

Corinne was about to drive off when she noticed a Mercedes in the driveway, one that was unfamiliar... _ALREADY? HE JUST FUCKING BROKE UP WITH ME AND ALREADY HE HAS A FREAKING SLUT ON CALL?? OMFG I CAN'T BELIEVE I EVER DATED THAT GUY!_

She sped off and screeched into the reserved parking spot at the garage.

"That's gonna get you through those wheels real quick," joked Michael, walking towards the car. The Asian girl didn't respond.

"Yo, Cori. What's up?" he asked knocking on the window, she turned to look at him, tears winding their way down her face at incredible speeds.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, come here girl, Mike's got you," the redhead opened the car door and took her into his arms. She cracked and sobbed loudly onto his shoulder, aromatics of car grease and paint drifted into her nose from his shirt.

"I hic didn't think hic I would care," she cried into his shoulder, all Michael could hear was a muffled oomph.

"Hey, you're saying that fucking Russian kid hurt my favorite girl?" growled the redhead, "he's going to have some explaining to do!"

Corinne shook her head violently still into his shoulder, a salty stain was spreading over his black work uniform.

"Shhh, it's okay, he doesn't deserve your tears. No one deserves for you to cry for them, except maybe me," the redhead grinned cheekily.

The brunette choked on a giggle, "shut up Mike."

"Now that's more like my girl, come on, I have a couple of newly imported utterly awesome rims I know you'll love." He took her by the shoulders and led her away into the store-room.

"So… you say he's just gone home? Gone back to Russia? Without so much as a goodbye? In like 2 days?!" said Corinne, an unbelieving look written all over her face.

"That's what the school said," replied Keiko, seemingly equally as confused, "you don't know how many hearts that boy has broken at our school, yet people were so sad to see him go."

"People were distraught? Over Hiwatari? I can definitely believe he broke hearts but the latter is somewhat difficult for me to contemplate." Muttered Cori, gulping down a ristretto (3/4 shot coffee  yum! When made good :P)

"I'm not lying! For some reason people were just attracted to him!"

"Yeah, everyone who was was probably incredibly shallow."

"Maybe, I don't know…"

"It's not right! He wouldn't just leave like this! I'm going to go check something out, I'll catch you later love."

"Bye Cori."

She drove over to Kai's "house" (mansion really) and banged heavily on the door, thunk thunk thunk

A half-awake Rei opened the door, he ruffled his hair and yawned, revealing the gorgeous cat-like fangs.

"Mmm, nyup nyup hey…" mumbled the neko-jin.

"Hey, I uhh… left something here, did Kai say anything about it?"

"Well, he left all his things here and told me I could stay for as long as I liked. So I presume it's ok for you to go up and look for whatever it is."

"Great, thanks."

"Just uh… I have company okay?"

"I know what to do Rei," Corinne rolled her eyes and hopped inside.

Up in Kai's room…

_Clean, clean, clean… geez this place could pass hospital sanitation tests._ She fumbled through draws looking for anything that would give her a clue, anything at all… the floor soon accumulated school reports, old newsletters, concert pamphlets and in general a lot of useless junk. Next, the book shelf. Corinne pulled out every book and flipped through it, finding everything useless and joining the pile of junk on the floor she was about to give up.

Until she remembered one last thing, she bounded over to the bed and felt under the pillow and pulled out a small, old copy of "The old curiosity shop" by Charles Dickens.

The brunette flipped through it and found the letter, quickly scanning through it her expression changed from shock to pure disgust. _How could anyone talk to another human like they were some… some experiment?! _

She decided then and there that she would find Kai, get him back and save the world! Or perhaps just the first two. Now however, to conquer the parents.


	11. Thank god for Tala?

Cookie: ditto disclaimer, lalala, enjoy. R & R.

She decided then and there that she would find Kai, get him back and save the world! Or perhaps just the first two. Now however, to conquer the parents.

"But mom, you don't understand! This is exactly what I need to get into an Ivy league university! The colleges just love an eclectic resume and what better way to do that than add a foreign country to the list?" rallied Corinne.

"I can understand where you're coming from sweetie, but I really don't think Russia is top of any American University's "must have visited" list," replied Mrs Ling, putting down her newspaper, "now, if you want to go to England, I think we can consider that possibility."

"Ugh, but England is so over-done. Everyone goes to England, Europe, England, Europe, Russia is something different, it's fresh, it's unique and it's only going to be a couple of weeks."

"I don't know… I just don't think our money will be well spent sending you to Russia, money aside, I don't think it'd be a good educational experience for you to go there either. Heck, it could be suicide for your studies."

"No it wont! 2 weeks, I can catch that up in a weekend, I promise! And in a fortnight I bet I can learn so much about Russia _and _I'll pay for half the plane ticket out of what I earn from the garage."

"Corinne, when do you want to leave?" her dad cut in, he had been sidelining at the end of the table with his coffee the entire time and thought it would be right to voice a bit of opinion.

"Well we have some weird holiday that lasts a week starting tomorrow, so if I leave tomorrow then I wont miss out that much on school!" grinned the brunette.

"Don't be stupid, you can't buy a plane ticket and pack and inform the school all by tomorrow." Argued Mrs Ling.

"Mom, yes I can, I can order the ticket online and pay by credit card, duh… it's called modern technology! I can pack in an hour and you guys could contact the school for me!"

The two older Chinese exchanged glances, Mr Ling grinned while the more sensible yet relenting Mrs Ling just sighed and half-rolled her eyes.

"Fine, your father will go order the ticket now and I'll contact your school. You young lady will go pack and I will make sure you've got everything you need before you leave."

"yes mommy, thank you mommy and daddy" grinned Corinne in a saccharine tone.

"don't play that game with me," warned her father jokingly.

She chuckled and headed upstairs to pack, all the time thinking what wonderful parents she had, amazed they'd be so lenient and easily persuaded. Then it hit her, of course… they probably saw this as a "get over the amazing boyfriend" rebound trip, good thing they didn't know Kai was Russian…

Corinne peeped into her black carry bag: passport, check, credit cards, check, laptop, check, laptop charger, check, lip balm, check, plane ticket, check, calling cards, check, electronic dictionary, check.

_Am I missing anything? When I get off the plane… I'll need… ah! Cash for the taxi, duh. I'll get that when I'm in Moscow airport, hmm… better do some researching on the place huh. _

She and her parents had said their lachrymose goodbyes at the boarding gate and she was currently in the waiting lounge, being the ultra-organised person her mother was, she was naturally early for her flight. Even more so when they just announced that it would be delayed for another hour.

She popped open her laptop and started doing some research on the big country of Russia. An IM popped up:

Mischy: Ur an idiot!

CoCo (Corinne): Haha, I know :P

M: You don't even know where to find him!

C: Yes I do! It was all in that letter! I just have to find this "Biovolt" place, I'm not all unprepared D

M: -sigh- u make me worri

C: awww, I feel 3ed

M: Well, you better come back in one piece!

C: Duhh… I'll come back with double what I left with ;)

M: That is _if_you find him… and _if _he agrees to/can come bak w/ u

C: y u so pessimistic?! He will want to and I will get to d bottom of this!

M: Alrite hun, I g2g. Call me when u arrive!

C: Will do, baii xx

M: 3 xx

"_We apologize for the delay, flight one-six-six will board in ten minutes."_

"finally…" Corinne muttered to herself, she closed her laptop after over an hour of surfing. Google maps was a lifesaver, as long as she could find a good taxi-driver, then perhaps 2 weeks was more than enough. Strange though, Biovolt was listed online as a massive medical laboratory… surely something with that much fame and media coverage can't cover human exploitation like what she had read in Kai's letter. Or perhaps.. it was because of it's size that it could do things other companies couldn't, after all, the media coverage could all be bought with money.

Lady luck seemed to be on her side and on the transfer flight to Moscow Corinne was placed next to a cute redhead boy who introduced himself as Tala and low and behold, was also going to Biovolt.

"So… what exactly is Biovolt?" Asked Corinne

"… I thought you were one of us… why else would you want to go there?" replied Tala with his own question.

"One of us? Who are 'we' exactly?"

Tala sighed… "forget it, you shouldn't know any of this and if you're not connected to Biovolt in any way its better it stays like that."

"Oh… hmm…" mumbled Cori, "but… do you know a Kai Hiwatari?"

Tala turned to stare at her, "how do you know… Kai?"

"Tell me about Biovolt."

"No."

"I'm going whether you tell me or not." - Corinne

"It'd be better if you didn't… trust me." -Tala

"Yeah, right, that's really gonna stop me." - Corinne

"How do you know Kai?!" – Tala

She stopped being obstinate and explained what she was going to Russia for and the letters she found along with the black Mercedes and the sudden disappearance of Kai, then paused in anticipation for Tala to take his turn.

"Wow… I knew Hiwatari had run away but I had never thought his life was so exciting, we all assumed he'd died or something…" thought Tala out loud.

"Yeah well obviously he's alive and well, so will you help me get into Biovolt and get Kai back?"

"Look, as cute as you are, I think you're treating this like some teen movie where the good guys always manage to get their happy ending. It doesn't work like that in the real world, you can't just walk into the place, find Kai and walk back out with him. Be realistic, go to Russia, book a tour and just enjoy the place."

"Fat chance."

"You don't want to end up dead."

That shut her up. Temporarily.

"They wouldn't kill me, I have international immunity of some sort don't I?"

"Not when your murderer has the money to easily cover it up."

"Kai wouldn't let me die."

"That's assuming he's still alive himself."

"HE IS ALIVE." She almost screamed at him.

"Alright, okay… he's alive… I'll help you find him, then it's all up to you from there on."

"What? You'll help me? Omigosh, thank you!" cried Cori happily, then her less neurotic side hit her, "wait… why will you help me? What's in it for you?"

"I'm going back to Biovolt for a visit, I was one of the outcasted experiments that didn't quite succeed in ultimate stoicism or whatnot. They didn't destroy me so I, being naturally superior to normal humans managed to make a good life on my own. Kai and I were friends, tough competitors but friends nonetheless and I wouldn't want him to return to a life like that…"

"I'll just trust you because there's nothing more I can do, but if you try any funny business then I'll kill you," she squinted balefully at him.

Tala laughed, a cute sort of chuckle, "alright miss, I guess Hiwatari likes his girls with a bit of attitude."


	12. Hands off my man

Cookie: apologies for the terrible chapter, this was written a while ago so don't stone me! Sorry for you guys getting three alerts... the stupid thing wouldn't show my time break so the story was a bit skew...

Tala laughed, a cute sort of chuckle, "alright miss, I guess Hiwatari likes his girls with a bit of attitude."

-----------Time break-------------

"Tala? Tala Ivanov?! Is that really you?" squealed a blonde white coat who ran up and bear hugged the lithe boy.

"It's nice to see you again too Zena," grinned Tala, "hey, I don't suppose you could give us a tour of the place? I want to see how much is still the same."

"Sure, we as in?" She glanced around and her eyes landed on Corinne who was looking around innocently with her travel pack seated behind her.

"She's umm… a friend of mine," explained Tala.

"Riiiight Tala, a friend," teased Zena, she exchanged expressions and turned a bit more serious, "does she know about…?"

"yeah… so is it alright if she tags along?"

"I guess so… they barely ever check the security tapes anyway, ever since Kai returned, there isn't much point checking any except for the front door ones." Said the blonde, she added gingerly "Hiwatari ain't going anywhere soon."

Corrine's gaze snapped towards the scientist, she had heard Kai's name… what did they mean he wasn't leaving?

"Thanks Zee," Tala smiled and gestured for her to lead the way.

"what does she mean Kai isn't leaving?" hissed Corinne, trailing behind the tall redhead boy and blonde.

"I don't know! Maybe he doesn't want to leave?" whispered Tala back.

"Whispering sweet nothings ae? I didn't think you'd be that sentimental Tala," laughed Zena.

Tala blushed even though the accusation was false and muttered something incoherent.

Cori was bored out of her mind as the two old friends walked around labs and dorms joking about the "old times" even though it seemed to her the "old times" were nothing to be particularly celebrated over.

They walked into a lecture-hall that was the size of ten basketball courts, one had to squint to see to the whiteboard however there were headsets and LCD screens at each seat. Talk about extravagant technology!

There was currently a small class of perhaps 10 people clustered about a hundred seats away from where they were standing, one certain spikey haired head stood out amongst the rest.

Corinne was certain she had seen it before… of course, the same hair she had ruffled a trillion times and who's owner was just about the yummiest thing in the world.

"KAI!" screamed the brunette.

All heads turned in her direction.

She was right, it was Kai… he stood up and for a moment, looked incredibly surprised, and started towards her.

"What are you doing here?" asked the Russian, seemingly placid.

Her heart sank, that was it? That's all he had to say to her?

"I… I came…. To find you and take you home," mumbled Cori, her gaze cast away.

"I am at home, I thought Rei made it very clear that we were over?"

The Asian girl felt a surge of anger jolt through her, "Kai Hiwatari, you do not get me to fall in love with you and then say it's over through your friend. It's not over until I get a clear explanation and if I have to travel halfway across the fucking world for it, then I will."

"You're still stupid as always," sighed Kai, his expression was emotionless but his eyes told a different story, she could see the longing in them, the amount of will power it took for him to restrain from folding her into his arms once again.

She stood unmoving, fixing a determined stare on him.

"Well, it's as simple as this: I'm here and I can't leave."

"But what about us?"

"What about us? We're teenagers Cori, what do we know about love? Hell, I can't believe you're even here. Do you know how stupid this is? Don't you wonder how you even got this far to see me?"

"I met a nice person, I got lucky."

"No amount of luck in the world could have gotten you past Biovolt security so easily, don't you understand?" Kai said, starting to lose his composure. He turned towards Tala, "Why do they want her here? Is this another lesson for me?"

Corinne stared dumbfounded at the redhead, _this was all a set up? What? OMG… why do I never think?! Of course nothing is that easy… shit I'm a moron… what have I gotten myself into? I could have easily solved this with a couple boxes of Kleenex, many boxes of ice cream and soppy movies! Maybe. _

"Everything is a lesson Kai," said Zena, her tone was eerily calm, "we're letting you make the choice now, give up your girlfriend's life or give up your own."

"WHAT? THAT'S CRAZY! IT'S INHUMANE TO ASK A QUESTION LIKE THAT!" barked the brunette Asian girl, clearly outraged.

Zena rolled her eyes, "Kai, I would've expected you to have an intelligent girlfriend. No we're not going to take Kai's life, he's much too valuable. It's more a choice between giving up his DNA so we can make an altered clone or giving up your life."

"You want to replicate Kai? Why?" said Cori, "he's not that great."

"Why do you love him?" Tala cut in.

"Point taken. But you can't clone a human being! It's stupid, it wouldn't work and why would you want to anyway? I'm sure you can train someone to be just like him," exclaimed the brunette.

"No one is as genetically pure as Kai, although we're going to make his clone much more obedient than the original." Explained Zena, she mentally slapped herself, "you don't need to know any of this, Kai, we're being very nice here. I'm sure I already know your decision?"

The Blunette glared and gave a curt nod, "you'll leave me alone after this?"

"We don't need you anymore kiddo, there can only be one Beyblading champion after all," said the blonde.

"Beyblading? As in the spinning tops? Are you kidding me? All of this is for that stupid game?" said Cori dryly, "are you people entirely deranged?"

Zena reached to slap her across the face but was stopped by both Kai and Tala, she glared angrily, "You will NOT disrespect Beyblading in any way!"

"…" _she's actually serious? There must be big money in winning the title of this or something… god and I was starting to worry about it being some world domination type of thing. _

"Zena, we're not to harm her unless Kai makes that decision," muttered Tala, "evidently I made that trip for nothing, Hiwatari would have been cloned either way."

"How… how will you clone Kai? Don't you have to develop it from the embryonic stage and nurse it to maturity?" asked a curious Corinne, science may not be her major forte but it definitely roused a spark of interest.

Zena let out a long sigh, "do you think Biovolt is some silly little lab in the middle of nowhere with pathetic funding? We have all the latest technology you ignorant brat, it speeds up the growing process and replaces the telomeres in the cells so they aren't already aged and have maximum life expectancy. It takes a matter of days for us to grow a new Kai Hiwatari."

"I am not an ignorant brat! And I understand exactly what you're talking about," growled the brunette, "and you will NEVER make another Kai Hiwatari."

_Well… she's become quite attached to me, _Kai mused to himself, a stupid smirk tugged at his lips. Cori noticed this and rolled her eyes.

"I mean, no one could be that arrogant and annoying," she corrected.

"Enough already, you people disgust me. Kai, we need to extract cell samples so let's go." Said the blonde, starting out the door.

The laboratory was more sanitized than a hospital aside from a small clutter of papers on the corner of a desk, Tala and Corinne sat down in the viewing area as Kai was sterilized, swabbed and scraped. The sight really made her sick, she wanted the stupid blonde to get her fricking hands off of her man, really, she seemed to be using a bit more body contact than necessary in Cori's opinion.

Zena's hand lowered and playfully patted Kai's crotch, he immediately grabbed her wrist and flung it away but Corinne still jumped up and banged on the separation glass.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" she yelled angrily, "GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HIM YOU SLUT."

The sudden outburst startled the whitecoat who had fallen into a sort of trance as soon as they were alone in the test chambers, she blushed and realised that they were in fact visible behind the transparent barriers.

"I hope you haven't forgotten what we had Kai," she whispered into his ear, then said aloud, "that's just about all we need, I still have to extract some sperm cells though."

"We had nothing," Kai hissed back.

"You most certainly do not need to extract sperm cells!" snapped Cori, still furious.

"It's all in the contract Kai signed in exchange for your life, we get samples of all the types of cells that we want from his body." said Zena matter-of-factly, "if he doesn't oblige then the deal's off."

"He can do it himself! In private." Growled the Asian girl, she muttered under her breath, "pervert."

"Ahh… but it's not like Kai is unfamiliar with me working on every part of his body." The blonde grinned in a smug-I-deserve-to-be-punched way.

"That was BEFORE he had a choice in the matter, right Kai?" her brown eyes pleaded with him for confirmation.

Kai didn't answer.

"Kai…?"

"It was before I left Biovolt," forced the Russian, "I didn't know any better."

"Oh but Kai, how can you say that. You enjoyed it didn't you?" sneered Zena pouring oil on the fire.

"I'm still here you know…" said Tala, "just let Kai finish up himself and then they can go."

Tala grabbed a cup and handed it to the blunette who took the plastic container and carried it as if it were biological warfare and headed towards the bathrooms.

Corinne was left in the room feeling incredibly awkward, she felt so uncomfortable in the sole presence of the other two Russians.

It seemed like forever when Kai came back into the room, he thrust the container (now inside a brown paper package) on the desk.

"Let's go," he said to Cori.

"That's it? We're free to leave? No strings?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Ugh, it's not like we want to keep you here." Said Zena, "you know your way out. I hope to never see you again, now Kai love, you know you've always got a bed to come back to here."

Kai glared at her and muttered something under his breath before grabbing Corinne by the hand and leading her away. Their footsteps faded down the hall, plod, plod, plod on the linoleum.

"Why do you have to aggravate her like that?" asked Tala.

"It's just so much fun! And Kai has become a rather yummy young man," laughed the blonde, "I'm just messing around, it's been so long since I've been able to do something like that!"

"And for good reason, did you forget there are security cameras?" pointed out the redhead.

"Oh no there aren't, security footage of Kai Hiwatari just doesn't exist, imagine if it landed in the wrong hands! The amount of evidence they would have against us," mused the scientist.


	13. And our heroine gets cloned

Cookie: again, not that great a chapter… sorry! R & R anyhow

They sat on the hotel bed in silence, both unsure where to start.

"I…" they said in unison.

"You go first," mumbled Corinne.

"I… I'm… I'm sorry," said Kai quietly, "for everything I put you through, it was unfair on you for me to just disappear like that. I should have explained, I know you would've understood."

"Kai…" she started, "it's okay…"

"No, I know it's not. You don't have to pretend I didn't hurt you, why else would you be here in Russia?"

"Alright, you hurt me but I can understand. Because…" she trailed off.

"…because you have secrets of your own right?" offered Kai, "and you can't tell me."

"No you dumbass," snapped Cori, "Because… because I love you."

He stared at her.

"Ew, you made me say the three words." She made a face.

"You just killed the mood," said Kai, "but to hear that from you after all these months, it's great, you know."

Corinne reached over and stroked his jawline, the same slightly squared and perfectly set jaw-line she had kissed many a time. She ran the tips of her fingers down his neck, his collar bone, the skin underneath was smooth and soft.

Her touch was feather-soft but Kai winced in pain as she reached down to his abdomen.

"What?" she asked concerned, the brunette lifted Kai's black t-shirt and revealed many deep purple and green patches and gasped.

"Oh my god, what did they do to you?" she whispered.

"Nothing," was the curt reply she received, Corinne raised an eyebrow.

"I just put up a bit of a fight when they tried to take me away," he said finally.

"Why? You knew they were going to succeed anyway, you must have been outnumbered… you're so stupid, look at how much pain you're in right now." Said the brunette, her eyes moistened but she blinked it away furiously, refusing to allow tears.

"I have all I could ever want right here in this room, that's worth all the pain they could inflict on me," answered Kai, he finally got to hold her in his arms again, it hurt so much to do so but he wouldn't want anything else in the world at this moment - or ever.

Cori lost the fight with her tears and just allowed them to pour freely, "don't…don't hic you dare hic disappear on me again."

"Promise." Said Kai kissing the top of her head.

-- 2 weeks later --

"Mom, dad! I'm home!" called Corinne from the door, "look who I brought with me!"

Mr Ling slowly descended the stairs, a solemn look on his face, "honey, you're mom's not here."

"What? What do you mean?!" the brunette's eyes widened, "where is she?"

"Hello Kai," her father forced a smile, "I guess you two teenagers are back in the good books?"

"Dad, where is mom?!" pushed Cori.

"Your mother… found someone else, she's perfectly healthy so you have nothing to worry about," replied Mr Ling.

"Oh… omigosh, dad," she ran up to her father and gave him a huge embrace, "how are you taking it?"

"I'll be fine…" muttered her father, "I just need some time alone to think."

"Are you sure you want to be alone?" asked Cori.

"Yeah, just a while to sort everything out in my head." Answered Mr Ling.

"Well… I can stay with Kai for a while, if that's okay with both of you?" suggested the brunette, she glanced at Kai who nodded.

Her father gave the smallest of smiles, "alright honey. Thanks."

"Dad… I'll come visit any time okay? Call me, I don't care what time of day it is. Take care of yourself," she gave him a smile and headed back out with Kai.

"…Should you really leave your dad alone?" asked Kai.

"Yeah, I know my dad, he needs to think things through while driving, to lose himself in it a bit. I mean, 19 years of love or what he thought was love… I can't believe my mom would do something like this. She's just gone, ran away, how could she?!" growled Cori.

"Love is blind, and if you don't love someone, you can't force yourself to," replied Kai, "no matter how much you previously invested, how much you previously felt for them, what matters is now."

"I guess… I just feel so bad for my dad though, and it means I have to live with you," she scrunched up her nose.

Kai chuckled, "you love the opportunity really."

"Yeah, whatever Kai," Corinne stuck out her tongue and got into her car, "I'm driving."

"Hey, no!" protested the blunette, his cries were in vain as she locked the drivers side seat.

Cori started the car and looked up, a girl who looked almost identical to herself walked up the driveway, a streak of white in her fringe stained her otherwise raven hair.

"Is my vision dying or am I seeing another you with different hair?" asked Kai, his eyes fixed on the girl.

"It's another me… with different hair," said Corinne, she rolled down the window as the other girl walked up towards them.

"Hello, my name is Mia. I think… I'm your twin sister," said the girl in an unsure tone, "our parents gave me away at birth to your father's cousin who was infertile… they used to be really close but then drifted apart and lost contact after they immigrated to different countries."

Corinne gaped at her, _…this is way too much to take in, omg… why do major events happen within a month of each other?!_

"I… umm… I'm Corinne?" said the brunette, "and.. uhh.. are you sure? I mean, you look a helluva lot like me but that could just be an incredible coincidence."

The raven haired girl handed her adoption papers and birth certificates, from her poor Chinese skills even Corinne could tell that it was all legitimate.

"I'm sorry to be blunt, but what exactly do you want?" she asked her new twin sister, she was much too tired to be polite at the moment.

"I know this is so sudden and I don't expect anything, I just wanted to meet you… and maybe we could be friends?" smiled Mia.

Cori smiled back, "of course, I'd love to have a sister."

"It's just… I kinda need a place to stay and was wondering if…" started the other girl.

"Well… Kai, considering I'm staying with you right now, is there room for another?" the brunette asked her boyfriend.

"Yeah sure, we always have room for one more. Rei would like her," he joked.

"Rei will keep his hands off her," said Corinne pursing her lips into a forced smile, "hop in, we're going home now too."

"Thank you so much," she smiled a cute little smile and got into the back of the skyline.

"Kai! You're back! I missed ya mate," grinned Rei giving him a slap on the back.

"I'm sure you had plenty of company," joked the Russian, "Cori's going to live with us for a while... and her identical twin."

Rei looked the two Asian girls up and down, "whoa… that's just freaky…"

"Yeah, tell me about it," said the girls in unison.

"Ew, I hope we don't start doing that lame twins thing where they finish each other sentences and stuff like that." Exclaimed Cori.

Mia laughed, "agreed."

"Rei, show Mia to her room. Just pick any of the furnished spare ones," said Kai, he turned to Cori while Rei led the other Chinese girl away, "hey love, how're you holding up?"

Corinne sighed, "I guess I'm alright, it's been a long day."

She fell into his arms and buried her face in the crook of his neck with a satisfied 'mm', inhaling in the sweet aroma of the beautiful boy who was all hers.

A pair of chocolate eyes glanced down at the pair of lovebirds with a glimmer of envy, their owner quickly wiped any trace of that away and smiled while thanking Rei after she was shown into her room.


	14. Kai is almost dry raped

Cookie: this one I like a little more. Enjoy all.

Don't own anything but OCs… as everyone knows. I don't really see what the point of disclaimers are but oh well, better safe than sorry.

A pair of chocolate eyes glanced down at the pair of lovebirds with a glimmer of envy, their owner quickly wiped any trace of that away and smiled while thanking Rei after she was shown into her room.

"So Kai… where do I sleep?" teased Cori, unpacking her stuff into a corner of Kai's extensive closet.

"I don't know, maybe the couch?" Kai grinned back.

The brunette hmphed and continued to hang up clothes, the appearance of Mia was… just a little bit on the disturbing side. It was great and all to have a sister, but one that resembled her so much was too creepy for comfort.

While deep in thought, she didn't notice the tall Russian deity sneak up and take her by the waist.

"Wha—" yelled Corinne as she was lifted and wrestled onto the bed with Kai on top.

"Think you could get used to this bed?" he asked, ice blue eyes stared into her chocolate ones, his face mere centimeters from hers.

"I don't know, I mean… Do I get to have the bed all for mys—" she was cut off as he pushed his lips onto hers, hands grasping her hair. She nibbled on his lower lip gently, and then pulling away, teasing. Kai groaned as his hand slid down her side and slowly up her top, his thumb grazing her supple skin… suddenly, the door opened.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry, I didn't, I should have knocked, I… Uh… Shit, sorry!" stammered Mia, immediately turning away.

Kai got up off the bed and straightened himself up, obviously pissed at the disruption. Cori sat up on the bed and smoothed her clothes, keeping her annoyance on the inside.

"Yeah, knock next time. What's up?" asked the brunette combing her fingers through her hair.

"Uh, I- I just… sorry," blushed the girl at the door, "I was just wondering if you guys wanted to go out. Rei was offering to show me around town."

Corinne shot Kai a worried glance, Rei had a girlfriend and she didn't want him to lead her new sister on.

Kai nodded in acknowledgement, and reassured her "Rei knows what he's doing, it's alright."

"Okay then…" mumbled Cori, "we'll just stay here, you and Rei have fun."

"Oh okay, I'll see you later then," smiled Mia, "and sorry, again about… yeah."

She gently backed out of the room, taking the door with her.

Cori sighed, then grinned up at Kai eager to return to their previous activity but realized his face was one of discontent, "hey, it wasn't that big of a deal right?"

"Yeah, it's just… never mind," muttered Kai, his forehead still furrowed.

"Hun, tell me what's bothering you."

"It's nothing, stupid really. It just seemed like she wanted to interrupt us."

"Don't be silly, why would she want to do that?"

"That's why I said the thought was stupid, forget I said it."

"Alright stranger, you make me wonder sometimes," she stood up and pecked him on the lips before returning to her suitcase.

"I don't think Mia should meet your dad just yet, you know… with everything that's happened," said Kai, also unpacking his considerably smaller suitcase.

"Mmm," agreed Cori, "I can't believe my mother, I don't even want to call her that anymore. How could she do that to dad?! He loved her so much!"

"Yeah but, she fell out of love with him… you can't force two people to stay together if one of them isn't happy." Replied Kai, Corinne glared at him.

"What are you saying? That it's justified?!" growled the Chinese girl angrily, "NOTHING justifies what she did! She threw away eighteen years of marriage for some stupid guy who probably doesn't know how to relax her after work everyday, who won't put the right amount of sugar in her morning coffee, who doesn't know that she laughs with a snort when she's really happy…"

"Sorry, it wasn't right for me to say," apologized Kai, he folded the now tearful girl into his arms, "shh, it will be alright sweetheart; your dad will be okay. I'm here for you, always."

Cori sniffed, "what if that happens to us? I don't want to think that one day we won't feel the same about each other."

"I don't think it will, we'll have our off days but we'll make it through, don't you worry. I will stay with you as long as you want me," he hugged her tighter, as if that could squeeze the pain out of her.

"Forever," whispered Corinne to herself, not daring to think otherwise.

--Time Break--

Kai was downstairs flipping pancakes like a pro, Cori was still in bed, she hadn't slept too well all night so he decided not to wake her just yet.

"Mmm, what smells so good?"

Kai slid a pancake onto the stack and turned around, Mia was wrapped in nothing but a towel, her damp hair emitting a sugary sweet scent.

"Morning," said Kai, _She's a bit too comfortable around strangers…_

"I know what you're thinking," she said.

"Oh?" Kai raised an eyebrow and smirked, "what is that exactly?"

"You know… just that you would like to jump me right this second," replied Mia, noticing his disturbed look she grinned, "I'm just joking Kai, I couldn't do that to my sister."

Kai gave a short laugh, still shaken by her forwardness.

"Do you need a hand?" She asked, and walked up to him, gently pressing herself to his side attempting to peer over his shoulder.

Kai stiffened, "it's okay, don't catch a cold. And try not to wake Corinne."

"Aww, you worry about her too much," cooed Mia, "alright then, I'll get dressed if it's what _you _want."

Kai didn't reply and waited till he heard her reach the top of the stairs before allowing himself a sigh. _Corinne so easily lets her into her life, and this is how she acts? _

**Corrine's P.O.V:**

I trotted down the stairs silently and smiled to myself as I saw my gorgeous Russian standing there making breakfast, I am so lucky.

I slipped quietly behind him and slid my hands around his waist, I drew back warily as Kai stiffened from my touch.

"What's wrong?" I asked, confused.

"Sorry, you just caught me off guard that's all. What would you like in your pancakes?" His voice seemed to be void of anything abnormal so I let it go.

"You spoil me," I grinned and tip toed to kiss him on the back of his neck, "I'll take strawberries thanks."

"done," grinned Kai back having predicted my choice, as usual his perfect smile making my legs go weak.

"You're getting very good," I mumbled, mouth stuffed full of berry goodness.

Kai just grinned in response, cutting his stack neatly. I wondered if he was ever going to stop being perfect, even just in front of me. The more time I spend with him, the more flawless he seems, the more I fall for him… What if one day, he realized that he was too good for me? _Much _too good for me.

"Is it my turn to ask what's wrong?" said Kai, his sapphire eyes questioning the look of worry that had subconsciously crossed my face.

I snapped my head out of it and lied, "just thinking about dad…"

"Oh, let's go out today. Take your mind off of things," he said, I wasn't sure he entirely believed me but I didn't want to find out and nodded in agreement.

"Mind if I help myself to breakfast?" asked a voice that sounded too much like my own, I glanced over at Mia and smiled, hiding my uncertainty.

"Yeah, go ahead," I said, hoping to sound casual and comfortable when in actual fact I was still unsure about her. Kai seemed to sense this uncertainty and kept quiet about our movie plans, would this boy ever cease to understand me? I certainly hope not, it makes one of us.


	15. Dum dum dum

Cookie: Don't own Beyblades. Ladeedada

_Italics mean the character is thinking._

**General P.O.V**

"Alright, well we're going out. If you need anything just ask Rei," Kai said to Mia as he left with her twin.

"I'm sure I'll be fine," Mia grinned angelically, it fitted her face just fine but not so much her personality. Kai couldn't help but be taken aback yet again at how much she resembled Corinne, he mentally shook himself out of it and closed the door.

"So… what do you want to go see?" asked Cori as they backed out of the driveway.

"Something lighthearted and funny, take your mind off things," said Kai, "how about Hancock? I know you like Will Smith movies."

"Yeah, that sounds good."

They enjoyed the drive in silence, both comfortable enough to relax in the quiet. Kai pulled in to the car park and they ambled down to the theatre.

Corinne noticed a pretty buttery-blonde walk up to them as they waited in line for tickets, she looked almost feral.

"Kai Hiwatari?" snarled the blonde. Kai turned to meet the back of her palm.

"HEY!" Growled Cori, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"That's for not calling like you should've, I thought we really had something going last week." Now the blonde looked almost in tears.

Corinne laughed, "I think I should call the cops, Kai was with me in Russia last week. What do you think you're trying to pull there ya lil' bitch?"

The blonde sniffed and regained her composure immediately; she turned away and mumbled under her breath unaware that they could hear her, "ah shit… I messed up, now I'm not getting paid for this."

Kai was still slightly awed by this little occurrence, "I… what the hell?"

"I don't know… someone's obviously trying to mess us up." Replied Cori, slightly amused but mostly angry.

"You know I wouldn't… ever. Right?"

"I know babe, don't worry." She smiled at him, Kai found comfort in that smile even though he had seen it moments before looking so out of place and not at the same time on Mia's face.

After the movie

"Hahaha, that was hilarious. Just what I needed, thanks," Corinne grinned at Kai who smiled back, glad he could help, "I think I should check up on my dad, see what's up. Can you drop me home?"

"Yeah, sure, you want me to stay and wait?"

"No it's alright, I'll take the Harley back home."

Kai nodded and smiled to himself, she had called his house "home".

They pulled into the gravel driveway to see Mr. Ling loading up his car with suitcases and boxes. Corinne gave her Russian a peck on the cheek before hopping out of the car.

"Dad, what are you doing?" she called as Kai pulled out onto the road and drove off.

Mr. Ling dumped the last box into the boot and turned around, "hey honey, I was just about to come see you."

"What's going on? Why do you have all your stuff? Where are you going?" Cori raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"Well if you give me a chance to answer before asking more," laughed Mr. Ling, "I thought it through and there really is nothing left for me here. I mean, you're off to college soon and you have a very capable Kai to help you through things now so I just figured I'd head off to Tokyo and try my hand behind the wheel again. No pun intended."

The Asian girl pursed her lips, "are you sure dad?"

"Of course, I've thought this through a lot. I've always wanted to go to Japan but your mother didn't want to leave her job. I don't really have that to worry about anymore do I?" He sounded light and upbeat but Corinne could still see a hint of sadness in his eyes but decided not to bring it up.

"Oh that's not what I meant, are you sure you're ready to get left behind in the dirt with all the pro drivers in Japan?" joked Cori.

"Har har young lady, you think you're witty?" grinned her father, "come on then, let's go inside for a last cup of tea and I'll explain how I've left you our savings and the house and everything."

Mr. Ling hugged his daughter's shoulders as they walked up to the front doors.

Meanwhile

"Make sure it's a nice chocolate-y, port wine colour," demanded Mia to the hair dresser, "and don't cut it at all, we've got the same haircut."

"No problem," replied Lori patiently, _there's always one or two that are difficult to handle, she's not that bad._

forty-five minutes later

"Wow… I look just like her," muttered Mia under her breath, she paid and thanked the hairdresser and stepped out into the crisp Dunedin air. She looked around and saw a cute blonde in his early 20s straddling a motorcycle and walked up to him.

"Hey hot stuff, would you mind giving me a ride home? I don't really feel like walking or taking the bus home," she pouted and widened her eyes slightly, not too obvious but enough to make up the boy's mind.

"Give us a kiss doll and it's a done deal, I'm Steve by the way," grinned the blonde.

"Thanks Steve," smiled Mia, she gave him a quick kiss on the lips and hopped on back, giving him Kai's address.

Steve stormed down the roads, it wasn't long before Mia was giving him a good-bye kiss and declined his offer for a date.

She trotted up the driveway and noticed Kai's car, _Oh, I wonder what he's going to think of my new look. Wouldn't it be great if he couldn't tell us apart? Hehehe._

Still lacking the house key she rang the doorbell and waited, a certain Russian opened the door.

"Hey Cori, you changed?" Kai smiled and pulled Mia into an embrace.

_He thinks I'm Corinne? Wow this was easier than I thought! Let's see how far I can milk this opportunity. _

Mia hugged Kai tighter and burrowed into his shirt.

"Whoa there hun, you missed me that much huh?" laughed Kai.

Mia nodded, face still deep in his chest. She looked up and grinned at him, without a word she pulled Kai upstairs into his bedroom, drew the curtains, turned the lights on dim, and pulled him onto the bed with her.

"Heh…" huffed Kai with a crooked grin, "I guess I can ask about your dad later then."

Mia's hands were already wandering as Kai kissed her, he was too absorbed to notice the slight difference between her and Corinne's kissing style.

fifteen minutes later (an hour since Kai left Corinne with her dad)

Cori swerved around the cars on the highway back to Kai's house after taking her dad to the dock to ship his car off and then to the airport. _I wonder if letting him go to Japan is the best thing, but I don't know what else to do to help ease his pain a little._

She stopped at "Everyday gourmet" and picked up a caramel almond tart, her and Kai's favourite. A short five minutes later she pulled into the driveway of what was now her home, she walked to the door and found it unlocked but thought nothing of it and headed upstairs to look for Kai.

Corinne opened the door to darkness and flipped on the light switch…

Cookie: heehee, short chapter but tis a mini-cliffie. Read and review. Thanks


	16. Is it okay to forgive?

Cookie: Sooo... excited much? Arite, here goes, I don't own BB… and _Italics generally mean a character is thinking._

Corinne opened the door to darkness and flipped on the light switch…

The box of dessert collapsed to the ground, Kai's lithe, unclothed body turned, his face tensed in shock.

"Wha-- " started the Russian, he couldn't finish before Corinne turned and sprinted away, out through the doors, onto her motorcycle, roaring down the road.

She couldn't think, her mind too blank to even send tears to her eyes, the wind whipped her hair across her face and shoulders. By instinct, she headed to the one place that made her feel comfortable – the garage.

As usual Mike was underneath a car, tweaking at the gears and pipes when he heard the screech of rubber. He heard some others greet Corinne before rolling himself out to see her.

"Hey doll, what's up?" grinned the red-head, he wiped his arms and hands before opening them for a hug. She fell into his arms and cried, everything that had been kept in by the initial shock poured out now, thinking it funny how she came to him every time something terrible happened… what a position to put him in.

"Hey, shhh… what's happened?" hushed Mike, he stroked her hair gently while holding her firmly with his other hand.

"Kai… Mia… bed… together" she hiccupped into his uniform.

"WHOA, WHAT?" yelled the boy, suddenly infuriated, "what do you mean?!"

"I got home and… and… they were… having sex on our bed…" sobbed Cori, she tried to erase the image but it seemed to enjoy taunting her.

Michael sighed, "Hun, look. That Russian kid isn't good for you; he's hurt you more than once and not lightly either. I shouldn't have let that happen, I said I wouldn't after what happened with Eric. I'll keep you safe as long as you want me to 'kay?"

The brunette hugged him tighter all the while crying tears for another man, it never occurring to her that this one could feel the same way toward her as Kai does.

Another screeching of wheels interrupted the girl's sob fest. Kai ran into the garage panting.

"Corinne, I… I didn't mean, I thought she was you. It was stupid, I know I can't make it up to you right now but please trust me. It was just a huge misunderstanding." Said Kai, breathless not from the exercise, but from anxiety.

"Hiwatari, I'm going to have to ask you to leave," said Mike calmly, he kept his grip tight around the small Asian girl who refused to turn and look at the blunette.

"Please, just give me a chance to explain. Please come home," said an exasperated Kai.

Corinne shook her head, still buried in the redhead's chest. It hurt Kai to see her in his embrace, he felt as if he could barely breathe, this immense jealousy swelled his lungs until it felt as if his whole thoracic cavity would explode. _If this is how I feel seeing them hug, how must she have felt when she saw me and… oh shit…_

"Oh shit doesn't really cover it now, does it?" spat Michael, seemingly reading his mind, "she's not going anywhere with you."

Kai reached to touch Corinne but she flinched away from his grasp, the brunette loosened her hug and backed away from both boys. Kai advanced toward her only to be blocked by Michael.

"I'm warning you Hiwatari, leave her be," growled the redhead.

"She's _my_ girlfriend, it's none of your business," Kai glared back and tried to move toward Corinne.

In a second the two boys were engaged in fighting, both angry at the other for the same girl they both wanted so badly.

"STOP!" screamed Cori, "Don't… please!"

She couldn't be heard over their loud swearing and grunts so like in any other teen drama she had to jump between them and be flung away before either would stop. She landed with a sharp crack and then a soft thud on the concrete floor.

"Ow shit…" mumbled the tearstained girl clutching her ankle.

Both boys immediately seized their immature brawl and turned to her, Michael tentatively picked up her ankle to examine it while Kai continued to glare at him and angrily wiped a trickle of blood away from the corner of his mouth.

"Ahh crap, we've cracked your ankle," muttered the redhead and then trying to lighten things up he added, "sorry babe, I forgot how delicate you were."

She scrunched her nose up at him, the physical pain barely subsided the ache in her heart, she kept her eyes downcast, unwilling to meet Kai's gaze.

"I'll take her to the hospital, you still have to work," said Kai, stating more than offering.

"No, you will not touch her." Replied Mike adamantly, he gently lifted her up and headed towards his gorgeous supra.

Corinne discreetly peeked over Mike's shoulder back at Kai, she didn't know why it hurt even more to see the pained expression on his face, one she hadn't ever seen in him before.

After being cast and drugged, Mike insisted she stay at the hospital for the night, the brunette quickly fell asleep quickly, both boys sat opposite each other on the sides of her bed.

"Keep out of this Mike," warned Kai, "it's between me and Corinne."

The redhead gave a short laugh, "don't think you're the only one who cares about her."

"I've always known how you felt about her; she's the only one oblivious to your displays. But I've never considered you a threat and I'm not about to," said Kai calmly.

Mike kept his composure for once, "that's not up to you to decide Hiwatari, especially after what you've done to the poor girl time and again. Haven't you ever thought of letting her go? Because _you're _the one harming her."

Kai didn't reply, _of course I've thought about it, all I bring her is pain, I promised to protect her as long as I kept her by my side but I've obviously been doing a pathetic job of it… as selfish as it may be, I just can't bear to let her go. I'd rather die than let such a thing happen._

"Hit a nerve didn't I?" muttered Mike, he stretched and slumped back into the chair, "you're free to leave, I'm going to stay by her side."

The Russian took it as more of a warning than anything, he hmphed and remained un-moving.

The next morning, Corinne slowly fluttered her eyes open expecting to see Kai's grinning face like usual, all she saw was the bare hospital wall. This lapse in tradition made her stomach sink, so it wasn't just a nightmare after all…

She glanced at each side, from Mike to Kai, back and forth many times until her vision blurred, both boys were snoring softly. Her ankle felt painfully numb, the painkillers had almost worn off now, the small clock on the wall read 6:30… it was about twelve hours ago that this nightmare had started.

Corinne pulled herself upright and closed her eyes. _Could I ever accept Kai again? **Yes, of course… you love him. **But he betrayed me! **He didn't mean to, he thought Mia was you… you can see how one can make that mistake, especially since she changed her hair color. **I guess… but it doesn't mean it doesn't hurt… He has to make up for it somehow. **What are you going to do about Mike? **What about Mike? **Don't be so naïve, what do you think he's doing here? **We're friends, he cares about me. **He loves you, dumbass. **You're my conscience, if I'm dumb, you're dumb. Pots and kettles and degrees of blackness yanno. **sighs you know what I mean. How can you be so oblivious? **I AM NOT!... and you're wrong, Mike and I are just friends. Nothing more. **If you say so… **I do! **Okay, I believe you. **WE'RE JUST FRIENDS! **I said I believed you already… god, what do you want from me girl. **FINE. **FINE. **_

"Corinne? Does it hurt?" Kai asked, worried at the frustrated expression on her face.

Cori snapped her eyes open, her expression immediately eased when she saw the comfortingly familiar grey eyes, "no, I'm fine."

"Hey babe, you can crash at my place for as long as you need." Piped up Mike, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"I don't think that'll be necessary, but thanks Mike." She smiled at him.

Kai's eyes lit up, "does that mean you'll come home? You forgive me?"

The brunette raised an eyebrow at him, "no, I'm packing up my stuff and going back to my own house."

"But your dad's left, it's not safe for you to live alone," argued the redhead.

"How did you know dad's gone?" asked Corinne, and added "I can take care of myself fine thanks."

"Oh yeah, not with that ankle you can't." Pressed Mike, "and your pop called me and asked me to look after his darling princess.

"Can too!" she stuck a tongue out at him.

"Umm… Corinne, can we please talk?" mumbled Kai.

"We are talking, spit it out Hiwatari." She said coldly.

"Alone?" his eyes pleaded with her even though his face remained stoic.

Corinne glanced at Mike, he sighed, "alright I'll leave you two alone, call if you need anything hun, I'll just be outside."

"Thanks," grinned Cori, she turned to Kai, "well?"

"Look… I was at home and the doorbell rang so I figured you'd forgotten your keys, I went to open the door and Mia had changed her hair so she looked exactly like you and well she didn't say anything and kissed me and… I guess my primal instincts just took over and I didn't think. It's no excuse I know, but please… if you can forgive me… I'll do whatever it takes to make it up to you - I just don't think I can lose you again." Explained Kai.

"Oh please," she shot at him, "you didn't realize that she wasn't wearing what I wore an hour earlier? You didn't stop to think, hey, why would she change her mind about premarital sex now? It never occurred to you that what you were doing felt different?!"

"I… I guess I just wasn't thinking right… I understand if you never want to see me again, but just know, you're the only girl I've ever been monogamous with… well, up until now – but this was a misunderstanding!" said the Russian, his forehead furrowed anxiously.

"Is that supposed to make me feel special?" she continued to glare at him, "did you enjoy it Kai? Did you enjoy her touch, her kiss, her soft, warm body? All those other girls you had before me, I can let them go because it was B.C (before Corinne – get it? Haha… sorry). But have you stopped to consider how I feel? Seeing you and her, seeing you _inside_ her? _My_ Kai… _my_ boyfriend… _my_ love…"

Kai grabbed her and hugged her tightly, "I know… I know… I'm – I'm sorry, and sorry doesn't make up for it at all but please… please don't leave me."

Her eyes welled up, she brought her arms around his waist, "I don't want to let you go either… but… I need some time Kai. I can't just take you back when everything's fresh on my mind."

Kai nodded, "I understand, take all the time off you need. Will you at least take one of the spare bedrooms? You're going to need help around the house."

She breathed in heavily, "I want the room farthest away from you."

"Done. I'll get Mia to leave now," he flipped open his phone and dialed.

"Where to?" muttered Cori.

"Who cares?" replied Kai, the phone connected, "Hey Rei, help Mia gather her stuff up and kick her out please."

Rei "Kai… maybe you should let her explain a bit first?"

"What more is there to explain?"

Rei "She told me that Mrs. Ling isn't Corinne's biological mother, maybe Cori wants to hear this?"

Kai glanced at the brunette looking at him, he placed a hand on the speaker, "Corinne… Mia has some things she wants to tell you. It's about your mum, do you want to hear it?"

"No Kai… whatever it is, I don't want to know. She's no mother of mine."

"Apparently that may be more true than you think."

She stared at him for a few seconds before reaching up for the phone, "hello?"

Rei "Oh Corinne, hold on I'll get Mia."

Mia "Hi… you probably don't want to talk to me right now. –"

"Damn right."

Mia "I just wanted to tell you that this wasn't exactly all my idea. You see, our mother fell in love with our dad's brother, so when we were one she took me and dad took you… I guess they lost contact and he went overseas and married your mum before you could remember otherwise."

"Why are you telling me this?"

Mia "I just thought you would want to know… somehow our mother got word of how you were doing, how you were living a great life in New Zealand with an amazing boyfriend. So she was jealous, I guess I was too… twins but with such different lives. Anyway, she and dad passed away in a car accident recently, so I took all their savings and decided to come see you. There was nothing left for me back there anyway… I guess I just wanted to meet you and stuff but when I saw how great your life was… I couldn't help but want it. I figured if I looked like you, I could _be_ you. It didn't work on Kai though until I dyed my hair so I looked exactly like you – I guess it fooled him enough to let down his guard. And I'm sorry for what I did, really I am. Anyway, just… don't blame Kai too much for it. Rei's found me some work and a nice apartment so I'll move out immediately. Corinne, I'm sorry…"

"I see. Good bye." She closed the phone and yoga-breathed, "Kai… I guess… I forgive you. BUT, you have a lot of snivelling and making-up for to do."

Kai grinned from ear to ear, "deal."

"Mike?" called Cori.

The redhead strolled in, his expression unreadable, "I heard, are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yeah… it'll be okay, I'll explain later." She said, smiling slightly.

"There's no need, you've made your choice. I'm still going to be your friend, just… this guy here (he jerked his thumb at Kai), if he bothers you even in the slightest, I'm not letting him go again." Sighed Michael, he accepted her decision even if he didn't want to – what else could he do?

"Thank you… I'm sorry…" she whispered, looking away.


End file.
